Hope Out Of Heartache
by frykfryk
Summary: Alice leaves Jasper to follow her true destiny, leaving him behind in Forks. When a new student arrives at Forks High, will Jasper be able to control his inner monster and learn to love again? A Jasper and Bella story.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer - I (obviously) don't own anything. Not even Jazz. Oh well.**

JPOV

"What do you mean you can't stay here?" I asked my wife.

"Exactly what it sounds like, Jasper," she sighed. "It's not you, it's me."

"So I suppose our marriage means nothing at all," I scoffed.

"No Jazz, it means a lot. It's just that it's not right anymore. I had a vision-"

"You and your visions, Alice. You yourself know that half the time they aren't relevant."

"Only when it concerns some things. I saw him, Jazz. He needs my help."

I bit back the rage that threatened to consume me. "And who might 'he' be?"

"The one who made me," she replied. "I think he's my true mate."

"So I'm just your while it was convenient mate," I said. "No that's cool. I get it. I'm down with usury," I sneered.

She took my hands and tried to hold my gaze, even though I carefully avoided it. "I never said it was forever," she said quietly.

"Funny, because that's what you lead me to believe."

***

I had to get out of there, so I was hunting nearby the house when I heard something in the brush behind me. "Leave me alone, Alice," I muttered.

"It's not Alice", Carlisle said. "She told me you were out here."

"I'll bet she did," I said. "I suppose you're here to tell me everything will be okay, right?"

He looked down. "Something like that."

"And why's that, Carlisle?"

"Listen, my son. I know it feels awful now, but it'll get better."

"Will it? My wife just informed me that my marriage has been a sham. That I was only a time waster while she waited for someone better to come along. She gave me hope and then snatched it away from me after I had begun to think that maybe my life wasn't completely fucked after all."

"Your life isn't fucked, Jasper," Carlisle said. "The hope you felt may have been set off by meeting Alice, but it was within you the whole time. She may have helped you to discover your humanity, but only you can control that. Another person cannot dictate your actions, only you can. You chose to live your life in this more civilized manner, and her leaving won't change that."

"I know that you're right, I think I just need some time to think things through." I sighed. "I will be back later. After she leaves."

"All right, my son," Carlisle said. "We are all here for you though, please don't forget that. We take care of our family, and you are an important, irreplaceable part of the Cullen family."

"Thanks, Carlisle," I said, nodding at him. "I appreciate everything."

I didn't come home that night, because I was sure that Alice was still there. I had to admit to myself, things didn't feel as if they would have lasted forever, but it was easier to lie to myself than deal with the idea of having to face things alone. I was pretty sure that I would have caused a scene if we were in the same room again though, so I decided to just stay away. Instead, I ran to Canada and decided to hunt some bigger game. I had school on Monday anyway, and since I was so new to the "vegetarian" lifestyle, I tried to gorge myself on large predatory animals so that I could be around the humans easier. Carlisle must have told my siblings to leave me alone too, because I half expected Emmett or Edward to show up in the forest where I was hunting. It was nice to be alone for a little while though, to get my head together.

***

I returned at roughly six in the morning on Monday, just enough time to change my clothes and get myself cleaned up. "Where the hell have you been, bro?" Emmett asked, draping a heavy arm across my shoulders.

"Canada," I replied simply.

"I got it, I got it, hunting grizzlies without me. Some brother you are," he said good-naturedly.

"I know, I suck," I said, grinning at him. "Next time I'll be sure to send you an invite."

"You'd better," he said turning around to meet Rosalie at the bottom of the stairs. I resisted an urge to scowl at this; just because my wife left me didn't mean I had to punish my brother for still having a marriage that was intact. I had no idea how I was going to sit around and watch their displays of affection without ending up in a downward spiral of self-pity though.

"You'll be fine," Edward said, obviously reading my thoughts.

"You the new fortune teller around here, Eddie?" I asked bitterly.

"Come on Jasper, you know I only want to help," he said, looking down.

I immediately felt bad. "I know, I know. I'm sorry. You guys are just gonna have to bear with me I guess, I'll learn how to deal with it." I rolled my eyes. "There are other fish in the sea."

"Are you ready? We ought to get going," Edward said, looking at his watch. "Otherwise I can't get a parking spot away from where all the humans with poor motor skills will be driving, and I don't feel like repainting the Volvo again."

When we arrived at Forks High School, I could feel the buzz of excitement around me. "Why is everyone so keyed up?" I asked my siblings.

Emmett listened closely for a second. "New student today. Police Chief's daughter."

Rosalie rolled her eyes. "At least all the boys will have someone new to stare at for a while."

"Aww Rosie, I thought you liked the attention," Emmett said with a grin.

"It gets tiring from this crowd," she replied with a small shrug.

"I'll see you guys at lunchtime," Edward said, heading towards the office building. "I have to go give them the excuse for Al…her disappearance," he quickly avoided saying her name, sending me an apologetic glance.

"Listen, don't worry about not saying her name and all that garbage," I said. "I have to get over it, and part of getting over it is accepting it. It wasn't meant to be, so I'm okay with it. Whatever." Rosalie and Emmett exchanged a glance. "Really. I mean it."

***

The first part of the day went by without much notice…same old high school business. I've been through high school so many times that one day basically melds into the next.

At lunchtime, I bypassed the lunch line and just made my way to our usual table – the one that none of the other students dared to go near. When Edward, Emmett and Rosalie arrived, it felt quiet without Alice there, but at the same time I also found myself relaxing into the new situation. After all, if I wasn't good enough for her, why should I give her the time of day in the first place?

I took the opportunity to scan the cafeteria, something I hadn't done in a while due to my always having Alice to talk to, when my eyes fell on a girl that I had never seen before. She had to be the chief's daughter; the way the kids at her table were flocking around her and practically drooling on her made that clear.

I suddenly found myself locking eyes with the girl, and she held my gaze for a couple seconds before quickly looking down. She was quite pretty…no, my mind corrected, beautiful even. She had long mahogany hair and chocolate brown eyes set into a heart shaped face. Granted, I wasn't my best around humans but I absolutely had to talk to her.

"I wouldn't," Edward said, catching my arm as I stood up to do just that. He seemed as if he too was fixated on her, his brow creasing in frustration as he stared at her.

"What the hell's your problem, Edward?" Emmett laughed. "You look like you're in pain."

"Oh, it's nothing," Edward said, turning around quickly. "Nothing at all."


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer - I still don't own anything, but some of this is going to look a little familiar. I promise after the first few chapters it'll be different.**

BPOV

All things considered, my first day of school in Forks wasn't as bad as it could have been. Sure my ancient truck backfired in the parking lot, which brought a lot of attention to me – something that I would have preferred against, but it could have been worse.

I've never been the "new kid" in school before, but I'd heard horror stories about being ignored, teased…I wasn't expecting the reception that I got. Maybe because I'm a girl, or maybe because I came from Arizona, or maybe because I'm the police chief's daughter (the reason that I suspected), I couldn't get away from the other kids – they were all over me. One in particular, Mike Newton, wouldn't leave me alone. I could already anticipate having to tactfully decline date propositions, and from what I already gathered from his demeanor, he didn't seem like the type that was easily discouraged.

I'd already made a couple girlfriends, as well. Jessica Stanley seemed like the type who could get on your nerves after a while, and I suspected that she wasn't as friendly as she let on, but she seemed more than happy to give me an overview of the social hierarchy at Forks High. Angela Weber was quieter, she seemed content to just sit back and listen without contributing to the gossip.

I was on my way to the cafeteria when Mike Newton jogged over to me. "Bella, you're going to sit at my table, right? I have to introduce you to everyone!"

"Sure, Mike. I'm just glad that I don't have to sit by myself!"

"Oh, I wouldn't let That happen," he said, slinging an arm around my shoulder. Great, I really was going to have to keep my distance from him; he was already getting a little too cozy for my liking.

As we approached the lunch table, I saw all of the kids that I had met earlier and then some. I recognized Eric Yorkie from the morning; he had showed me to my first class. Jessica and Angela were there too, and a blonde girl with a sour expression on her face who I was pretty sure was named Lauren. "Hey everyone," Mike began grandly. "I want to introduce you to Isabella Swan."

"It's just Bella, please," I said, plastering what I hoped was a friendly look on my face.

"Oh I met Bella already," Eric said with a wink.

Great. Instead of trying to say anything else, I just sat down in between Jessica and Angela and hoped for the best. Luckily, Jessica kept up a steady stream of conversation that I was able to respond to with a few nods and whatnot, until I happened to notice a table with the four most beautiful people I'd ever seen. The one girl, a blonde, was seriously the most beautiful girl I'd ever seen in my entire life, with long blonde hair. The guy that was sitting closest to her had curly black hair, and was built like a large linebacker. To the blonde's left there was a guy with reddish hair…bronze?...that stood up in every direction. The one that really caught my attention though was the other boy sitting at the table. He was tall and somewhat muscular, with honey blonde hair that was just a little too long and slightly curly. All four were very pale and extremely attractive. I also noticed that nobody went near them, but then again, that had been my general experience with the model-beautiful people in my old school too. "Who are they?" I asked Jessica.

"Oh, those are the Cullens and Hales," she said, perking up. Clearly this was a subject she enjoyed talking about. "They're Doctor Cullen's adopted kids. He and his wife are like, really young, but they supposedly adopted these kids because I guess they can't have any? Anyway, they're like…together, if you know what I mean. The big one, Emmett and the blonde, Rosalie, are a couple. The redhead is named Edward…he's like, too good for all of the girls here." After she said that, she pulled a face. I couldn't help but notice that she seemed a bit bitter, and I wondered how recently Edward had shot her down. "The blonde guy is Jasper. He has a girlfriend, Alice, but I haven't seen her today, which is weird because she's here like, every day."

"Hm," I said, looking over. All of a sudden, Jasper looked up at me and we locked eyes. It was if the world had stopped and left us sitting completely alone in the cafeteria, just the two of us. His gaze burned into mine intensely for what seemed like forever until I looked down, embarrassed. When I got the courage to look back up, he had already looked away, but I swore there was something different about our moment of eye contact, and at that moment I wanted nothing more than to march over to his table and introduce myself. As I looked over again, I saw Jasper looking in my direction again and start to get up, before Edward pulled him back down. Weird. Whatever, it was probably for the best anyway.

***

After lunch, Mike walked me to my next class, Biology. When I got there, the teacher sent me to the only empty seat in the room, next to none other than Edward Cullen. I walked over and sat down. "Hey," I said to him.

Silence.

"Okay," I said, somewhat embarrassed. He was glaring at me, and looked to be pushing himself away in the other direction. And…was he holding his breath? Great, I must smell funny now, too.

The class period dragged on…probably because I felt so weird sitting next to Edward, considering the way that he was acting. I almost felt like crying, he was making me feel so uncomfortable. When the bell rang, he was gone in a flash, and Mike was there in an instant. "What was Cullen's problem? Did you stab him with a pencil or something?" he asked lightly.

"Yeah, he didn't like that much," I replied, forcing a laugh as I followed him out of the room.

"Forget about them, they're weird anyway," Mike said rolling his eyes. "Too good for anyone that's not in their little family."

"Maybe it's just because people ignore them, too," I offered.

"Probably not. Hey, what are you doing Friday night?"

I sighed. This was going to be a long day.

***

JPOV

"I have to leave!" Edward exclaimed, as he got in the car after school.

"Wait, what?" Rosalie asked.

"Isabella Swan…I almost killed her," Edward said, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"But you didn't," I said, glaring at him. "Right?"

"Obviously. But her blood is like none I've ever smelled before. I almost took her right there in my biology class. I was plotting ways to take out the whole classroom. They're not safe around me." Edward said miserably.

"Come on Edward, you just need to hunt," Emmett said reassuringly. "We'll go when we get home."

"Plus, I don't want to start all over again," Rosalie said, sending him a dirty look. "Come on. I've almost made it through this stupid school and I'm not about to start over as a freshman again. You know I'm not doing the high school thing again after this for a while."

"You'll be fine," Emmett reassured him.

"You can't kill her anyway, because I haven't introduced myself," I joked, though I wasn't particularly amused by the idea.

"I don't think you should do that," Edward warned. "Your control isn't the greatest, and you have no idea how good she smells."

"I think I can handle it," I said sarcastically. "I'm not going to slaughter the girl…I feel a pull to her or something, I don't get it. All I know is, maybe all of the things that have happened in the past couple days have happened for a reason. Don't worry about me, if it gets to be too much I'll leave her alone."

"I think you ought to do that anyway," Rosalie said with a glare in my direction. "I told Edward I didn't want to screw this up, and I'm telling you too. Don't ruin this family."

"Easy, Rose," Emmett tried to soothe her.

"Don't 'easy Rose' me, Em," she snapped. "I just want what's best for all of us."

"Everyone shut up," Edward said. "I'm going to leave for a little while, maybe go up to Denali. I don't want to ruin anything either. It'll be fine."

***

Later that night, against my better judgment, I found myself up in the tree outside of Isabella Swan's window. I felt like a peeping tom. I just wanted to see her a little closer though. Currently she was sitting at an old-looking computer typing something. Email maybe? The computer was murderously slow, and I could pick up the sounds of the ancient processor groaning away. Frustration was coming off of her in waves. Even from outside I could pick up her scent; Edward was right, she did smell good.

That could prove to be a problem, I thought with a frown. My control wasn't its best; I had only been feeding exclusively on animals for the past few decades. One good-smelling human could ruin it completely for me. I didn't feel an urge to kill this girl though, on the contrary, I felt an extremely strong urge to protect her. I decided that despite what my family would think, I was going to introduce myself to her. Tomorrow.


	3. Chapter 3

**This will probably be the last chapter where I shamelessly borrow material from the original story.**

BPOV

Sleet. It was something I was unaccustomed to, there being no winter to speak of in Phoenix. Charlie had gone out early and gotten new snow tires with chains put on my truck for the winter, which I was grateful for – my winter driving skills weren't up to par considering I hadn't seen conditions like this since the last winter I spent in Forks, which was well before I was able to drive.

The drive to school went well; my truck was stable due to the new tires, so I was able to make it to school in about the same time as yesterday. When I arrived, I got out of the truck to inspect the tires…God bless him, Charlie had gotten really nice tires for the old truck. At least something on it was new. As I stood up, I heard some brakes squeal and snapped my head around just in time to see a minivan barreling towards me sideways, out of control. I stared dumbly at it until I felt a hard shove. Next thing I knew, the van had stopped…less than a foot away from me. And standing over me, his hand holding away the van, the other held out to me to help me to my feet, was Jasper Hale.

JPOV

I was getting out of the back of Emmett's Jeep when I spotted Bella across the parking lot. She was crouching down, looking at something near the ground next to her truck. At the same time, I saw Tyler Crowley swerve into the parking lot, much too fast for the conditions, and immediately lose control. As I quickly calculated the trajectory of his car, I noticed none other than Bella, about to get pinned and likely killed. "NO!" I roared, running towards Bella at vampire speed before my siblings could stop me. There was a crunch of metal against stone as I shoulder-checked the van and pushed it away slightly, holding it at bay, away from Bella. I reached down to help her up, to see her staring at me with her mouth gaping open. "What…how did you do that? Where did you come from?"

"We'll talk later," I promised, pulling her to her feet. "Say I was right next to you," I prompted, reaching back with my foot to fix the dent in the side of the van a little bit so that it didn't look exactly like something that someone had shoved their shoulder into. I looked over to Emmett and Rosalie to see them also gaping at me. Rosalie looked pissed. I sighed; I was really going to hear about this later. "You ought to go to the hospital – my dad is a doctor there, he could take a look at you," I said.

"The hospital," she agreed, nodding her head, still looking at me with wonder. By the time, the entire school, minus Emmett and Rosalie, had gathered around us, everyone frantically asking Bella and Tyler if they were all right.

BPOV

As the ambulance pulled up, Jasper went over to talk to the EMT "I think Bella needs to go to the hospital, she fell and hit her head when I knocked her out of the way of the van."

"Do you have any injuries?" he asked him.

"No, I'm fine, but I'll go to the hospital if you want, I just want Carlisle to take a look at Bella." I rolled my eyes; I was fine.

I of course had to ride in the back of the ambulance; Jasper rode up front and kept shooting me anxious glances.

To my great dismay, Charlie had already been informed of my near-accident, and was at the hospital freaking out. In fact, he didn't stop his string of concerned-parentisms until Carlisle Cullen told him that I was free to go home after he signed some discharge papers. As I followed my father out of the hospital, I spied Jasper down a hall talking to his father and a pissed-off looking Rosalie. Right as we were leaving, Jasper looked up and we locked eyes again, and he nodded at me. I made a mental note to demand an explanation when we could speak privately, but judging from the look on Rosalie's face I wasn't about to go over there now.

Thankfully, I didn't have to go back to school, because I didn't feel like talking to people about what had happened just yet. I had the minor issue of dealing with the fact that my father had seen it necessary to tell Renee about the incident, but I figured I could give her a call after dinner or something; I really didn't want to deal with it right away. I was at home, after Charlie had gone back to work, when I heard the doorbell ring. Looking out the front window, I saw a black Mercedes with dark window tints in the driveway, and knew it was Jasper. Really, who else would have that kind of car around here anyway?

I opened the door to behold Jasper in all of his glory standing on the porch. "I believe we need to talk," he said. "May I come in?"

JPOV

She let me into her house, and led me to the living room, where she took a seat on the couch. Instead of sitting next to her, I took a seat on the armchair that was across the room. "Thank you for saving my life," she began, looking down.

"You're welcome," I replied. "I gather you probably have some questions."

"Well, yes," she said. "But…I mean, why'd you do it?"

Was this girl for real? Was she actually asking me WHY I saved her life? I voiced my confusion. "What do you mean?"

"Well, you don't know me. We're practically strangers. In fact, this is the most we've talked since I've moved here. Why did you go out of your way to save me?"

"Bella," I said. "I honestly don't know. I feel a compulsion to protect you," I said, looking her in the eye. "But I have to be honest with you. We shouldn't be friends. You shouldn't be alone with me even."

She looked at me, puzzled. "Why?"

"I'm very dangerous," I said. She obviously wasn't buying it; I didn't feel even a modicum of fear coming off of her, as I usually did with humans, especially when I was alone with them. I had to feel pretty pleased with myself though, I don't think I had ever been this close to a human without feeling more than just a slight burning in the back of my throat that was more irritating than anything else. I didn't even feel the slightest urge to take her life. This was a pleasant new development in the adventure that was my life.

Bella rolled her eyes. "Sure you are, Jasper. Are you sure you just don't want to be friends with me and you're just trying to BS your way out of it to preserve my feelings?"

This girl was incredible. "Very sure." I suddenly felt kind of uncomfortable. What the hell was I doing here right now? "I just realized I have to get home soon, my sister needs me to go to Port Angeles with her tonight to pick out a present for Edward's birthday," I invented on the spot, heading towards the door at what seemed to be too slow of a pace. "I guess I'll see you in school tomorrow." I was out the door before she could really reply. Smooth move, Jasper.

BPOV

As I watched Jasper run to his car, I couldn't help but feel mystified at his strange behavior. I must have stood there for nearly twenty minutes trying to process what had just happened before I realized what I was doing. Oh well, since I was home anyway, I decided that I might as well get a start on the laundry and dinner.

***

"Did you call your mother yet?" my father asked, his mouth full of lasagna.

"I was planning on doing that after dinner. You know, you really didn't have to tell her, it's just going to cause more trouble than it's worth," I said conversationally.

"Well, what was I supposed to do? I wasn't even sure you were all right when I got the call, so I called her," Charlie defended himself. "For what it's worth, I'm sorry if it causes you any undue stress," he added with a small smile. "Renee always could worry."

"You're telling me," I grumbled.

***

"Oh honey, I should have never let you move to Washington!" my mother fretted on the phone.

"Come on, mom. I'm fine. Totally missed me, they only took me to the hospital as a precaution. Dad shouldn't have even called you." I crossed my fingers that this would be quick.

"Well, I'm glad he did. And I'm glad you're okay," she said, the relief evident in her voice. "So what else is new?"

I spent the next fifteen minutes telling her all about Mike Newton's one man fan club for me and about how I already knew everything that they were teaching in Biology, while neglecting to mention my new friend Jasper. That part was still too confusing for me to process yet, and Renee was prone to fits of glee whenever a new boy was mentioned that I might be interested in. By the time I went to bed, I was absolutely exhausted. And maybe tomorrow I could get some more answers from the mysterious Jasper Hale.

**hope you like it so far; reviews are nice, I hope to have more to add to this very soon.**


	4. Chapter 4

**I don't own it. This chapter is kind of lame, but I needed to flesh out the story a little bit. I promise it'll get better!**

Ch4

BPOV

Friday morning when I woke up, I thought I was back in Phoenix for a minute – the sun was streaming through my window, instantly putting me in an excellent mood. I didn't even need a jacket.

When I got to school, I was ambushed almost immediately by Mike. "Hey Bella!"

"Hi Mike," I said smiling. "What's up?"

"A bunch of us are going to La Push Beach after school today, since it's so nice. Have a barbecue or something, maybe a bonfire later. You in?"

"I guess, sure," I agreed. "Sounds like fun. Who's going?"

"The usual gang, Jess, Tyler, Eric, Angela, and Lauren," he replied. "And you," he added with a big smile. "It'll be fun. Want me to pick you up after school to head out?"

"Umm…I guess, sure," I said. "I can drive myself if you want, I wouldn't want to put you out."

"Oh, believe me, it'll be no problem at all." He grinned again. "Well…I'll see you in Lunch!"

"See you," I said, trudging into school to get to homeroom a little early so I could finish up my math homework.

***

In lunch, the entire table was buzzing about going to the beach later – these rare sunny days in Forks had an effect on everyone it seems; even Lauren was smiling and laughing.

I, on the other hand, was looking around the cafeteria and frowning. "Hey Ang, where are the Cullens today?" I asked quietly.

"Oh, it's sunny today, they never come to school on nice days; their parents get them out of school to go hiking or camping or something like that," she said. "It must be nice, I wish I could get out of school so easily."

"Yeah, it must be nice," I agreed, before rejoining the lively planning for later that day.

***

After school, I barely had time to write a note to Charlie telling him where I was going to be before Mike was ringing my doorbell. "Hang on a sec," I told him after letting him in the house. "I just have to grab a few things."

"No problem," he said, still smiling that huge smile. I was certainly glad I seemed to have made his day.

I ran up to my room and stuffed a blanket and a hoodie into my bag quickly, if I was right about Forks it would probably cool down considerably as soon as the sun started to go down. Coming down the stairs, I found Mike in Charlie's living room looking at the series of old school pictures that were on his mantle. "You haven't changed much," Mike said. "Though you certainly have gotten prettier," he added flirtatiously.

Oh boy. I blushed before I could stop myself. "Thanks," I said, shifting uncomfortably from one foot to the other. "Do you need me to bring any snacks or anything? I could whip up a pasta salad pretty quickly if you'd like," I said, feeling a need to change the subject.

"Nah, it's fine," he said. "I have hot dogs and chips and stuff in the car, we should be okay on food. I'll have to take up on that offer some other time though," he added quickly. "I'm sure we'll be spending lots of time at the beach!"

Wouldn't you like that, I thought. "Alright," I agreed. "Well, we better go pick up the others," I said, heading towards the door, Mike following close behind.

***

Since Forks is so small, we had picked up everyone relatively quickly, everyone easily fitting inside Mike's Suburban. "I don't mind picking everyone else up," he had said with a shrug as we were on our way to Eric's house. "Some of the kids don't have cars, and its kind of fun being the taxi service," he added with a smile in my general direction. I couldn't help but notice that he picked me up first so that I would be riding shotgun.

Arriving at the beach, it was surprisingly uncrowded despite the nice day. "This is great, we have the run of the place!" Jessica exclaimed, moving closer to Mike.

Just as this was happening, I noticed a few of the kids from the Quileute reservation making their way over towards us; recognizing my childhood friend Jacob Black I happily walked over, eager to escape my new best friend Mike who hadn't been letting me out of his sight since we arrived.

"Bella!" Jake exclaimed happily, picking me up in a huge hug. "I heard from my dad that you were back in town! How do you like the truck?"

"I love it," I answered honestly. "It's just right for me."

"I rebuilt the engine myself," he said proudly. "Now I'm rebuilding an old Volkswagen Rabbit! It should be ready by the time that I'm actually legally able to drive," he added with a smirk.

"Well, good job on the truck, it runs great," I told him. "I'd like to see the Rabbit, I've always kind of wanted to work on cars," I added, noticing that Mike was sending Jake some not so nice looks. "Want to meet my friends?" I asked, figuring that we could continue this conversation later without Mike's glares.

"Sure thing," Jake agreed. "You guys going to be out here for a while? We were gonna have a bonfire later."

"Us too!" Jessica said, appearing next to me, looking Jake up and down. "I'm Jessica by the way."

"Jake," he said, shaking her hand and giving her his usual friendly smile. "These are my friends Quil and Embry," he added, gesturing to the two guys with him.

Jake and his friends mixed well with the rest of the group, and before long everyone was having a great time. I kind of felt like the prize at a carnival the way that Mike kept on trying to intercept Jake and his friends in conversation with me, but other than that the night went well. Jake and I made plans to hang out the next day, since Charlie was going over for his weekly Saturday fishing engagement with Jake's dad Billy, with Mike giving Jake suspicious looks the entire time. This was going to be a pain.

***

Of course, Mike made sure that I was the last person he dropped off. When we were finally alone in the car, he didn't waste any time. "So, uh, is there something going on with you and that Indian guy?"

"Jake? Nooo," I said, laughing nervously. "No, we grew up together. Our dads are best friends. We made mud pies together when we were little," I added, probably unnecessarily.

"Oh," he said, and was quiet for a minute. "You two seemed comfortable."

"Well, of course we are," I said, staring out the window. This was so not the conversation I wanted to be having with him.

"So," Mike said again after a long silence. "I had fun tonight," he continued. "Would you like to uh…maybe go see a movie with me in Port Angeles this week sometime?"

Oh Jesus. "Um…" Still looking out the window, I couldn't figure out a good thing to say. "Can I get back to you on that? I'm still trying to get myself situated." It was a cop-out, and we both knew it, but Mike wasn't deterred too much.

"That's fine! You should get settled and all!" He still had that big smile on his face as he dropped me off, and I could tell he was deciding if he should walk me to my door or not, so I made the decision for him, quickly getting out of the car and telling him goodnight before he could make the move to get out as well.

JPOV

I was really disappointed when it turned out to be sunny on Friday. This was definitely one of the areas where Alice's foresight was helpful, but by the time we were to head to school, the sun was shining and there was no chance that we could go out today.

More specifically, there was no chance I was going to get to see Bella today, and for that I was particularly disappointed.

"Are you sure that you ought to be doing this?" Edward asked, coming up behind me to look out the window himself.

"Get out of my head," I said quietly. "It's none of your business anyway."

"Its just that I know how good she smells," he said with a grimace. "And I wouldn't want you to slip up."

"Everyone has so little faith in my control," I said. "Maybe if I was able to go one fucking day without someone telling me to be careful, or to watch it, or to go hunting just in case, I would have an easier time. It causes me to lose faith in myself."

"Listen man, I'm sorry," Edward said, feeling shameful. "It's just that I feel like I can barely control myself around her, it's making me paranoid. I want to protect her."

"That's just my thing," I agreed. "I feel like I have this compulsion to protect her, and I feel anxious when I can't see her. It's driving me nuts. I'm an empath, but I can't even work out my own feelings. She isn't afraid of me either, she feels so trusting and…"

"You've talked to her?" Edward asked incredulously.

"I went over to her house after I saved her from getting hit by the van and—"

"You went over to her house? I couldn't do that. It would be too much," Edward said, still shocked.

"Her blood doesn't sing to me the same way it does to you," I reminded him. "But I went over there…to explain things," I paused to chuckle. "What I was going to explain I couldn't tell you. Long story short I ended up running out of there in the middle of the conversation. It was surreal."

"I can't hear her," Edward said suddenly. "I can't tell what she's thinking. I was trying in the lunch room the first day, and, nothing."

"Looks like Bella Swan has managed to confuse us all," I mused. "Well. That's that," I said, effectively ending the conversation. I just couldn't talk about it anymore. "Shall we to the Xbox?"

**Reviews are appreciated :)**


	5. Chapter 5

**I still don't own anything. Sorry this took so long, I had a massive case of writer's block, which could also explain why this is a little shorter than the other chapters. I fully expect this story to pick up speed any time now. I mean it. haha. **

BPOV

The next day, I opted not to join Charlie in his cruiser to go to La Push, telling him I'd meet him up there a little later; sometimes he ended up staying the night if it got too late or if he drank too many beers and I didn't feel like being stranded.

"You sure you don't want to join us in fishing Bells?" he asked.

"Oh, I'm positive, Dad. You go have fun, I'll see you for dinner, I'll make something for everyone later."

"Sounds good, Bells. I know Billy and Jake don't always get a good home-cooked meal, they'll both appreciate that," he said with a grin.

So, after I took a leisurely shower and had breakfast, I jumped in my truck and drove to La Push. As I pulled up in front of the Black residence, Jake was already running out the door towards my truck. "Hey Bella! They said you were coming but I almost didn't believe them!"

I laughed. "Come on Jake, like I'd ditch you? Please!" He had grabbed me in one of his massive hugs that lifted me off the ground. "But I'll go home if you don't put me down!"

"Sure, sure," Jake said, setting me back on my feet. "So, we have the whole day…and the whole house…" he wriggled his eyebrows suggestively. "To ourselves today, what do you want to do?"

"Jake!" I gaped at him.

"You know I'm only kidding, Bells," he said, grinning. "But seriously, what do you wanna do today? We could work on the car if you want, but it's your call."

"How about we go back to the beach?" I asked. "It's not too bad outside, maybe we could just take a walk or something and figure out the rest later on."

"Sounds like a plan," Jake agreed, heading towards the passenger side of my truck.

***

"So your friends seem nice," Jake said as we were walking on the beach. "For the most part."

"Yeah, sorry about Mike," I said. "He never leaves me alone."

"I got that impression," Jake replied with a smirk. "That guy has got it bad for you."

"I noticed," I said with a grimace. "He's a nice kid and all, but…meh." I immediately thought about Jasper. "Not my type though."

"What is your type?" Jake asked. "Me, right? I knew it."

I laughed. "I don't know. Tall, mysterious…" pale, blonde, heartstoppingly attractive. "You know, I really don't feel like talking about this right now," I said, changing the subject.

I stayed in La Push until after dinner, but the entire time I couldn't shake the thoughts of Jasper and our strange conversation a few days before.

JPOV

I had turned into a complete stalker. As I was creeping around the Swan residence the next morning, I heard Bella and her father discussing a trip to La Push. Figures she'd go some place where I couldn't follow. Not that I should be following anyway. That made me feel like a creep. Not that I didn't already, I figured that anyone who hangs around outside a girl's bedroom at night watching her sleep or listens to her conversations with her father would definitely classify. I really had to figure out a way to talk to her without running off like I did the other day; I couldn't even begin to imagine what that must have looked like.

To my credit, I had never done this before. From what I could remember from my human life, I never followed girls that I was interested in around, watching from a distance. Granted, that wouldn't have been proper back then…but it certainly wasn't any better nowadays, either. My relationship with Alice had just fallen into place; she called all the shots on that one. Come to think of it, that might have been a warning sign, but I refused to dwell on that; I would just end up feeling sorry for myself or worse, getting angry.

Hunting always cleared my thoughts up a little bit, so I turned and ran home to see if anyone wanted to join me. The only person home was Rosalie.

"Hey Rose, want to go grab a mountain lion?" I grinned at her.

Rosalie looked up surprised from the magazine she was reading and shrugged before getting up. "Sure. I think Em and Edward already went."

"It'll be a 'twins' trip then," I told her.

***

I had just drained a mountain lion and was preparing to bury it when Rosalie came up to me. "So…I was listening to you and Edward yesterday. I just wanted you to know that I'm sorry that I have been so negative about you wanting to get to know Bella. I do want to protect this family, and I like living here, but I trust you won't hurt her," she said. "I just want you to know that you have my support too. I know you can maintain your control around her."

I pulled her into a hug. "Thanks Rosalie, I really appreciate it. Your opinion does matter to me, and I'm glad that you have faith in me."

Rosalie nodded and shrugged. "For the longest time, we've acted like you were the weakest link, just because you're the newest to this lifestyle. I guess nobody has realized that you've had over a half century to get a handle on things."

"Well, time seems like nothing when you're like we are," I replied.

Rosalie smirked. "You would know, you're the oldest next to Carlisle!" She took off running through the trees after this.

"Ohh damn," I said with a laugh, following after. Before long we came across the scents of Edward and Emmett, and the four of us spent a few more hours in the woods before deciding to head home.

"Are you going back over there tonight?" Edward asked as we were slowing our run to a walk as we neared the house.

"I can't not," I said with a shrug. "It helps me get used to her scent, which will make things easier when I can actually get to know her." I frowned. "That is if she's even interested.

"Aww Jazzy," Emmett slung a huge arm over my shoulders. "Who wouldn't be interested in you? You're just so devilishly handsome!"

"Thanks for the encouragement," I said.

"And you're gonna bring her over here tomorrow after school so I can meet my new little sister, right?" he asked eagerly.

I rolled my eyes. "I have to be able to talk to her without trying to escape first."

**Reviews are nice :)**


	6. Chapter 6

**Sorry, I am absolutely terrible about updating. I had awful writer's block, and I didn't want to upload anything too short, since I always seem to take forever between chapters. I really hope the action picks up soon!**

**So, like always, I don't own Twilight or the characters.  
**

BPOV

I wasn't expecting much when I got to school on Monday; I figured everything would just get back to normal and as much as I wouldn't like it, I was sure that Jasper had pretty much forgotten all about me.

Imagine my surprise when I got to my locker and he was leaning against it as if it were the most natural thing in the world for him to do. "Mornin' Bella," he said as I walked closer.

"Hi Jasper," I replied carefully. "What's up?"

"I was terribly rude the other day, I wanted to apologize for my behavior," he said.

"It's okay," I said with a shrug. I looked around to notice that a small crowd had gathered around us; people around here really needed more excitement in their lives.

"I was wondering if you'd perhaps like to come to my house for dinner tonight maybe?" he asked. "Or if you don't want to do that, we could go out to dinner," he added quickly, looking nervous.

I shrugged again. "Your house is fine. I thought you said I shouldn't be alone with you?"

He grimaced. "Well…technically my family is going to be there so we won't be alone. I'm not going to tell you I'm not dangerous, because I really am, but if you feel comfortable with me, I'd like for us to be…friends."

Weird. "I still don't think you're dangerous to me," I told him.

"I think we're going to have to talk about that a little bit," he said, looking vaguely uncomfortable. Right after though, he replaced that look with a smile and said "can I walk you to your class?"

"Sure," I replied. He went to take the books out of my hands, brushing against my hands as he did so. "Wow, your hands are so cold," I said before I could stop myself.

He frowned again. "Yeah. That's another one of those things we're probably going to have to talk about."

"O-okay," I said, now completely confused. We must have been walking without my having even realized it because I found myself in front of the door to my classroom, Jasper handing me my books. I looked up at him and found myself speechless as I gazed into his butterscotch colored eyes. He was so tall – he had to be a foot taller than me. I shook my head to try to clear it.

"I'll see you later Isabella," he said, reaching up and touching my cheek. Whaaaat?

"Okay," I said in a small voice. "Bye." As I walked into the room I noticed Mike gaping at me, but I ignored him as I sat down. I was sure people were going to talk, but I couldn't bring myself to care about that little insignificant detail.

JPOV

I fidgeted all through my next class, unusual for one of my kind, but I couldn't wait for the bell to ring so I could meet Bella outside her classroom. Maybe I could walk her to her next class. She didn't seem put off by my behavior. She was of course dazzled by me; all humans were, but it was a different kind of dazzle to be sure.

I was up out of my seat and out the door right as the bell was ringing, and I made my way at a quick human pace back to the classroom that I had left her in for the last period. I could feel a sense of anticipation coming from within the room – could that be for me?

Bella exited the room, tailed by an eager-looking Mike Newton. "Hey Bella can I wa-"

"Hello Isabella," I said, and I could literally feel Mike's mood drop. Better luck next time, sport.

"Jasper," she said, smiling up at me. "Are you stalking me?"

Yes. "Of course not, I just happened to notice that your classrooms are conveniently located near to mine," I told her. They really weren't. "Anyway, I was wondering if you'd like to sit with me at lunch?"

"S-sure," she stammered, stopping in front of a classroom. "That'd be nice."

"Great," I said brightly, handing her back her books. "My next few classes are on the other side of the building, so I will see you then."

BPOV

Time seemed to crawl. Lunch was next period and I was anxiously excited to see Jasper. There was definitely something undeniably different about him. Too charming, too good-looking. He claimed that he was dangerous, was he really?

When I asked myself if I cared if he was actually as dangerous as he claimed he was though, I couldn't bring myself to. I barely knew the guy, and I was pretty sure that I'd be willing to do almost anything for him. Pretty strange for someone with practically zero experience with the opposite sex. Sure, in Phoenix I'd had boys I was interested in or had dated for a short period of time. It's not that I was really avoiding a relationship or anything, they had always just seemed too immature, or too eager, or too one-dimensional. Jasper was none of the above; he was definitely different for sure.

When the bell rang, I booked it out of the classroom quickly so I could avoid Mike. He was acting possessive enough as it was, especially for someone with no claim on me, and I saw the look on his face when he saw me talking to Jasper earlier. It just seemed like it was in everyone's mutual best interests to play the avoidance game.

As soon as I walked into the cafeteria, Jasper walked towards me carrying a lunch tray piled high with food. "I got you lunch," he said, gesturing for me to follow him to an empty table.

I nodded at the tray and smiled at him. "You seem to have gotten enough food to feed a third world country there," I said. Immediately, I wished I hadn't, because I was afraid I would hurt his feelings.

Jasper only laughed. "I know, I just wasn't sure exactly what you liked to eat, so I got a little of everything. I hope that's okay."

"It's fine," I replied quickly. "Definitely fine." As I started picking at the tray, I noticed that Jasper wasn't eating. "Aren't you hungry?"

"Not today," he said. "I don't…eat…at school," he continued. "Special dietary concerns, food allergies and such," he added, looking away.

"Oh, okay," I said. Something about what he said made me think that he wasn't being entirely honest, but I wasn't one to push an issue, and if he didn't want to talk about it, I wasn't going to press him.

JPOV

Why did I bother lying? "All right. That's not entirely the truth, but I would prefer just not discussing it in here," I said.

"That's fine, too," she said, shrugging. "I don't want to push you to say anything you don't want to," she continued.

I looked over at my family's table across the room, and all of them had masks of surprise and concern on their face. "Are you sure man?" Emmett asked quietly, and I shrugged. I couldn't hide forever, and I was positive Bella was different from other humans.

"I trust his judgment," I heard Rosalie tell him, and I smiled. Rose was the hardest to win over, and if she supported this, then I knew it had to be okay.

Figuring that it was best to change the subject for now, I did. "So, how do you like Forks?" I asked Bella.

"It's nice, I guess," she said. "It's a big difference from Arizona. I miss the heat, but everything is so green here. The people are a lot nicer than I anticipated, too."

"Small town hospitality," I said with a shrug.

"Though," she added with a glance towards some of the students at the other tables that were unabashedly staring at us and interjecting their own interpretations of what we might be discussing, "it's a little too small sometimes. Am I really that interesting?"

"Believe me Isabella, you're fascinating," I said without thinking, causing her to blush. "But you're also sitting with me. My family is a favored subject of conversation in this school," I added quickly.

"I noticed that," she said.

We talked for a little bit longer about her impressions of Forks, while I also simultaneously listened to her regular lunch table discuss what they thought we were talking about, and much too soon the lunch period was over. "I think I'm going to call it an early day, so I won't be seeing you, but if you'd still like to come over to my house later, I'd be happy to come pick you up whenever you want," I said as the bell rang. I really needed to go hunting before seeing her again, but I planned on keeping it close to home.

"Um, how about five or six?" she suggested, biting her lip. "Really, whenever you think would be good."

"Until five it is," I replied, taking her hand and placing a kiss on it before I could stop myself, and watched another beautiful blush to rise to her cheeks. "I'll see you then Isabella."

BPOV

I watched Jasper walk away, my hand still tingling from where he kissed it, when I felt a presence next to me. I didn't even need to turn around to know it was Jessica.

"Tell. Me. Everything!" she said breathlessly. "Things looked preeet-ty intense!"

"I don't have much to tell you Jess," I replied, "I'm going over to his house for dinner tonight I guess."

"Do you like him?!" The girl was practically having a fit.

"I don't really know him," I said. Of course I liked Jasper, who wouldn't? But I didn't need to deliver any unnecessary information to the hub of the gossip mill of Forks high, either. Give her one tidbit like that and the entire school would have a completely different story by lunchtime tomorrow.

"But he's like, so hot, isn't he?" Jessica sighed. "You're so lucky."

She seemed preoccupied by her thoughts of the dreamy Jasper so I just laughed nervously and excused myself to go to Biology.

***

I must've been lost in my thoughts about Jasper myself, because I didn't notice when the seat next to me became occupied. "Hello, you're Bella, right?" a velvety voice asked, causing me to jump and nearly fall out of my chair.

Edward. "Sorry," he said, catching my arm and steadying me in the seat. "I didn't mean to startle you. I think we got off on the wrong foot and I just wanted to apologize."

"It's okay, everyone has bad days," I said with a shrug. "You're Jasper's brother Edward, right?"

"I am. It's nice to meet you in a regular way. I'm afraid I wasn't acting like myself."

"That seems to happen a lot with you guys," I said, before slapping a hand over my mouth. "Crap. I mean…"

Edward laughed and cut me off with a wave of his hand. "It's fine. Jasper is going to have to explain everything to you later tonight; I hear you're coming over to our house. For dinner." He said the last word with a grimace, and I felt myself grow confused again. What was with these guys?

**Reviews are super, if you feel like it :)**


	7. Chapter 7

**I don't own it. **

BPOV

I felt bad about leaving Charlie on his own for dinner until I got home and there was a note on the counter about his having left work early to go to La Push to watch the game with Billy. That worked out just fine for me, so I left a similar note for him saying that I was having dinner over at a friend's house. With Charlie, less was always more.

I took a fast shower and agonized over what to wear. Clothes have never been a huge deal for me; I've always just been more comfortable in jeans, but the Cullens always were so well dressed. I reasoned that Jasper knew me to be a jeans person though, so that's what I ultimately ended up putting on.

At exactly five on the dot, my doorbell rang; I should have known Jasper would be perfectly punctual. "Hello Isabella," he said, taking my hand and kissing it.

I momentarily blanked on words but quickly recovered. "Hey Jasper," I finally replied.

"Shall we?" he asked, leading me to the same black Mercedes that I had seen the other day.

"Nice car," I said, nodding at it.

"It's my father's," he replied. "I have a motorcycle, but I didn't know if your dad was home, or if he'd really appreciate you riding on it."

I laughed, Charlie Hated motorcycles. "He's not home, but he definitely would have had something to say about it. I've always wanted to ride though, it seems like so much fun."

"Well then," Jasper said. "I'll have to take you for a ride some time. That is, if you'd like."

"I'd love that," I said with a grin. Visions of being pressed up against Jasper as the wind whipped against our faces danced in my head; oh I'd definitely love that.

As Jasper turned off my street, the speed went up. "Wow um, do you always drive so fast?"

"Yeah," he said. "Sorry about that, I'll slow down."

Jasper soon turned down a road that appeared to go right into the woods. "Do you live in the middle of the forest or something?" I asked with a laugh, after we had seemingly driven for a couple miles.

"Kind of, actually. We like the seclusion," he offered, his facial expression impassive.

Strange. Before I could say anything else, a large white house appeared almost out of nowhere. Jasper pushed a button on the ceiling of the car, and a garage door opened. As we pulled in, I found myself surrounded by several impressive-looking cars. "You guys like your cars," I observed.

"Well, Rosalie is a really good mechanic, she likes to have a lot to play with," he said. "She's tweaked all of our cars to make them go faster."

"Ha, maybe she could work on my truck," I laughed.

Jasper chuckled. "I don't think anything could help that beast."

"Hey, no making fun of my truck. It's a classic."

"Fair enough," he said, gesturing towards a door. "Shall we?"

JPOV

As I neared the house, I could hear my family's chatter, but even stronger, I could feel their anticipation on meeting Bella. Sure Carlisle and Edward had already had their encounters, but this would be their official first meeting and I knew they were all worried about how she would take them. After all, one of us at a time is one thing, but to be in a room with six predators at one time could take its toll on the bravest of humans.

I knew I wouldn't have too much to worry about; all of my family had decent control over their bloodlust, and even Edward seemingly had come to terms with his demons regarding Bella. From what he told me, the two of them had had a pleasant enough talk in Biology and he hadn't mentioned anything about wanting to eat her. He still couldn't read her mind, and it drove him absolutely nuts, but he assured me that now that he had an actual conversation with her and really saw her as a person, he didn't have nearly as hard of a time being near her.

As she walked in our house, I could feel her awe as she took in the place for the first time. "This place is impressive, Jasper," she said, looking up and around. "It's so bright!"

The Cullen mansion IS pretty impressive. When Alice and I first came to them, I remember being awed myself by the huge structure with its wall of windows. It was a far cry from what I had come from with Maria, living in underground bunkers and abandoned mines. "We don't have to hide in here," I replied simply.

"Right," she said, and then she turned to me suddenly. "What's with all of the cryptic statements?" she asked. "You've been saying things like that all day, and Edward as well. I don't think I'm capable of judging you, Jasper. Are you going to tell me what's going on?"

**I know it's a little short, but I thought it was a good place to end it. I guess the big reveal is up next, but this thing is kind of writing itself, so we'll see how that all pans out. Reviews are okay too :)**


	8. Chapter 8

**I don't own it.  
**

JPOV

I really had been planning on telling her all along, but her directness stunned me for a second. I was about to open my mouth to somehow stumble through an unprepared explanation when Carlisle and Esme walked in the room.

"Bella!" Esme said, stepping forward. "It's so nice to finally meet you! Jasper has told us so much about you. Welcome to our home!"

Bella blushed. Honestly, if I were able to, I would have as well; did Esme have to sell me out so fast? "Thank you for inviting me. You have a beautiful house, Mrs. Cullen."

"Please call us Carlisle and Esme," Carlisle spoke up, stepping forward to shake Bella's hand. "I know we've met before, but I'm glad we could meet on more casual terms." He smiled warmly at her. I nodded imperceptibly at him in thanks for their quick intervention and tried to gather my thoughts. I knew I wouldn't have long to come up with something that didn't sound like something out of a horror movie.

I heard heavy footsteps and cringed. Emmett. I sighed, and turned to Bella. "This is my brother Emmett, and Rosalie," I explained, nodding towards them.

"It's nice to me-" Bella started, holding her hand towards Emmett before she was silenced as he picked her up in a suffocating hug. "Whoa."

"We don't shake hands! We hug!" he exclaimed, finally putting her down after he caught Rosalie's glare.

"Hi, I'm Rose," she said, holding out her hand to shake Bella's. "I'm sorry for this oaf, he gets too excited for his own good sometimes," she added.

Bella laughed. She felt comfortable! "It's okay."

"Well," Esme said suddenly. "I hope you like Italian. Dinner should be ready soon, Jasper, why don't you show Bella around the house?"

Great, I guess now was the time. I sighed, hoping it didn't look too obvious. "All right. Come on Bella," I said, gesturing down the hall towards the staircase.

BPOV

Jasper led me up the stairs to a closed door, and I suddenly wondered if he was taking me to his bedroom. I doubted it; he seemed like too much of a gentleman. When he opened the door, I realized that my nerves were unnecessary. The room had bookshelves that reached all the way to the eight-foot ceiling that almost took up three entire walls. There was a desk off to the side with nothing on top of it save for a closed Macbook. "This is my study," he said, leading me over to a pair of black leather chairs set up in the opposite corner of the room, in front of a fireplace.

"So," I said, looking around. I guessed that Jasper was going to tell me what was going on, but I wasn't entirely sure what exactly WAS going on, so I glanced up at Jasper, who was looking at me with a weird look on his face, as if he were trying to figure out what I was thinking.

"Well," he said. "I don't really know how to go about doing this. I've never found myself in a situation where I felt I needed to share this with someone, but…all right, how about I ask you a question. Have you um, noticed anything strange about me and my family?"

Now that you mention it, I had, though I didn't really pay it much mind. "You're really strong," I started. "You're not huge like your brother but you were able to stop that van as if it were made out of cardboard."

"Anything else?" he asked.

"Well, you're not actually related to any of your family, right?" He shook his head. "You guys all look the same, but different. Your eyes are all the same color and your skin is all the same shade, but you still look completely different."

"And?"

"You don't eat. Well, you said you don't eat at school, anyway," I said.

"Anything else?" he asked, reaching out and taking my hand. His hand was freezing.

"Your skin is ice cold. All of your family is cold."

"Any theories as to why that is?" he asked, looking at me.

"Not really," I said with a shrug. "Nothing that doesn't sound absolutely ridiculous."

"Try a ridiculous theory on me," Jasper said.

"Okay," I said, thinking hard. "You're not human."

"No," he said quietly. "I'm not."

Oh. I absorbed this for a moment. "What are you, Jasper?" I asked him finally. "I'm out of guesses, and I'd really rather just hear everything from you."

JPOV

"Let me start with a question," I began, grabbing at any chance to prolong the inevitable. Surely as soon as the truth was on the table, Bella would run screaming out of my house and that would be that. "Has your Quileute friend ever told you about any of his tribal legends?"

"Not really," she replied. "He told me once that they were descended from wolves or something like that."

"The Quileute tribe has had a long history in these parts as a sort of protector. Long ago, their men could phase into wolves and use that to fight what they call the cold ones, or the blood drinkers," I said, looking down. I suddenly felt very afraid, because I basically told her what we were without actually saying the word. Instead of looking frightened, however, Bella was just sitting there staring at me in awe.

"Don't be afraid, Jasper," she said gently. "You're a Vampire?"

She said it, so I didn't have to. "Yeah, I guess that I am," I said quietly. I looked up at her suddenly. "Why aren't you running away?"

"You wouldn't hurt me," she said simply. "If you were going to, you surely would have done it already."

"Edward almost did," I said quietly. "Your blood called to him like none that he has ever smelled before."

"But he didn't," she said with a shrug.

"We are the world's most dangerous predators," I said. A small glimmer of hope was threatening to well up in me, because Bella evidently wasn't getting the message that I was trying to convey. "I'll be right back." I ran out of the room at vampire speed and into the woods to find a large rock about the size of a football, bringing it back with me.

"Wow, you are fast," she said with a smile.

"Ugh. Watch." I put the rock between my hands and crushed it into dust, which collected on the floor. I would have to vacuum it later, but maybe seeing me crush the stone with my bare hands would cause her to see the veracity to my statements about danger.

"Neat trick Jasper, but it's not going to work," she said with a shrug. "You guys obviously have a ton of control. Carlisle is a doctor for chrissakes. A surgeon! You and your siblings wouldn't be able to attend school without slaughtering everyone if you weren't in check."

"We don't hunt humans," I explained. "We only hunt animals. Carlisle calls us vegetarians," I said, a ghost of a smile on my face – that term never failed to amuse me.

"But not all vampires are vegetarians, are they?" she asked. "There wouldn't be so many legends about them killing people if they were."

"No, most vampires are definitely not vegetarians," I agreed. "That's why my family's eyes are gold. A human drinker has red eyes." I grimaced; there was once a time when my eyes were blood red. I hoped I wouldn't have to say anything about it, though I had a nasty feeling it would eventually come up.

I was about to ask her if she had any other questions when Esme called up to say that Dinner was ready. "We can continue this later," I said, offering her my hand to lead her down the stairs. She took it without hesitation. All of a sudden, I felt an emotion I didn't expect – amusement. I looked down at Bella and she was trying very hard not to laugh. "Might I ask what is so funny?" I asked.

"Well," Bella said, smirking at me. "I guess it's safe to say that I will be dining alone tonight?"

This girl really WAS unbelievable.

**The big reveal, Bella sure takes things well, doesn't she? No sense of self-preservation at all. I'm hoping to get the next one up soon, and hopefully I can start to get some of the drama I have planned for this story going! Reviews are cool, too.  
**


	9. Chapter 9

**If I owned it, Jasper would be in the book more. This chapter is a little bit longer, but I didn't want to split it up either, so enjoy :)  
**

BPOV

That was a lot to swallow. Normally I wouldn't believe something like that, but I've always had the knack for being able to tell when someone is lying, and Jasper was dead serious. And the way he felt so fearful when he was telling me – I'd have to ask him about that, because while I've never had trouble figuring out people's emotions before, I actually _felt_ his fear and felt afraid for him. Strange indeed.

When we arrived in the dining room, I was relieved to see only one place setting out; they must've known that Jasper would be telling me and I wasn't even sure what would happen if they ate human food.

"I hope you like Caesar salad," Esme said, as she put a small salad plate down in front of me. "I have some pasta for you also, but I thought you would like to start out with this." She smiled kindly at me.

"Thank you Esme," I said, smiling back at her.

As I dug into my salad, Jasper sat down next to me. "I hope you don't mind. They heard our conversation—"

"They _heard_ our conversation?" I asked. "From downstairs?"

"We have very good hearing," he explained. "Anyway, they appreciate not having to eat food, though I wouldn't be surprised if they joined you to watch." He laughed. "Eating is kind of fascinating to us."

Right as he said this, Emmett and Rosalie came in the room and sat down across from me right as Esme brought in my delicious-looking plate of pasta. "I hope this is all right," she said. "I can't really tell what it's supposed to taste like, but I followed a recipe."

I took a bite and moaned in appreciation. "This is absolutely delicious," I assured her.

"What's it taste like?" Emmett asked curiously, leaning forward to get a better look. "It smells pretty awful."

"Emmett, knock it off," Rose said, yanking him back in his chair. "Sorry Bella," she said turning to me. "None of us really remember eating. I hope you're not uncomfortable."

"No, it's fine," I replied with a shrug, and then I smirked. "Would any of you like to try it?"

All three vampires sitting in front of me shrank back in horror, causing me to laugh out loud.

"Come on Emmett, you're thinking about it," Edward said as he entered the room.

"Jerk," Emmett said, still staring curiously at my plate of pasta.

"Hey Jazz," Edward said. "I'll bet you fifty that Emmett tries the food."

"That's not a fair bet," Jasper replied. "I know that he's going to."

Emmett momentarily disappeared and reappeared just as quickly with a fork, and ever so slowly reached out and twirled a tiny bite of pasta onto it, and then sat back and stared at it for a moment before putting it in his mouth. As soon as he started to chew it, Edward started to laugh quietly again.

Emmett's face registered an extremely brief grimace before his features changed into a big grin. "Hey Jasper! It's not that bad after all. You should try it!" He stuck the fork back in my dish and wound a big spool of pasta around it and held it out to Jasper, who stared at it. I glanced over to Edward who was nearly shaking as he tried extremely hard not to laugh. Something fishy was going on.

"Really?" Jasper asked curiously, taking the fork and sniffing the food. "It certainly smells bad enough," he mused, staring at it.

"No really Jazz, it…tastes good," Emmett said earnestly.

"Well, okay," Jasper said. As soon as the food was in his mouth though, his eyes grew huge and he ran out of the room to dispose of it. He was back quickly and the look on his face registered unmitigated rage. "I'm never listening to you again!" he roared, as the rest of us at the table erupted into hysterics. I tried to contain my mirth, because I didn't want to upset him, but it was difficult trying to not laugh as I watched the other three Cullens, who always appeared so cool and collected at school, practically rolling on the floor.

JPOV

I was going to kill Emmett. I really should be used to his practical jokes, especially since he's been pulling pranks on me since practically the first day I joined the Cullens. But in front of Bella! Of course he'd do something like that, wouldn't he. It was okay though; he'd get his payback eventually. It was always easy pranking Emmett, because he didn't have a power like Edward did. Emmett practically never tried anything on Edward anymore, because he could always hear what he was thinking. I probably would have been able to tell what he was going to do too, except I was too busy staring at Bella to notice anything.

After everyone had calmed down, Bella finished her meal and sat back. "What would you like to do now?" I asked her after Emmett, Rosalie and Edward left us alone to go do whatever it was they usually did in the evening.

"I was hoping we could talk some more," she said. "That is if you want to," she added, blushing.

"Of course, would you like to go back to my study?" I asked her.

"Sure," she said with a shrug. "I like being around all the books, they're comforting," she said blushing again.

"You really like to read?" I asked her on the way.

"Honestly, it's my favorite thing to do," she replied. "I love being able to lose myself in another world for a time. I love Victorian literature," she continued. "I must have read _Wuthering Heights_ fifty times already, it's my absolute favorite."

"I have something you might like to see then," I replied, leading her over to one of my bookshelves and taking down a first edition of the novel and handing it to her.

"Wow," Bella said, gingerly flipping through the pages of the book. I could feel her awe as she took it in. I liked that she was so appreciative of the smallest things.

"It's yours if you want it," I said suddenly.

Bella looked up at me wide eyed. "I couldn't possibly accept this," she said, shaking her head and trying to give it back to me.

"No really Bella, it belongs with someone who appreciates it. I insist," I said, gently pushing it back at her.

"Thank you, Jasper," Bella said appreciatively, carefully tucking the book in her bag. She looked up suddenly and said, "Hey, I actually have another question that I was wondering about," she began.

"What's that?" I asked.

"Okay this might sound weird. Back when you were telling me about yourself earlier, I felt afraid, but I myself wasn't afraid, it felt as if it were coming from you. Am I nuts?"

I chuckled. "I forgot to mention that some of us have special gifts. I'm an empath, I'm able to feel and manipulate emotions."

"Really?" Bella asked, intrigued.

"Yeah. Sometimes if I'm feeling something particularly strongly, I project and everyone is subject to what I'm feeling. Honestly, I was afraid that you were going to flee in terror as soon as I told you the truth, so you probably felt that."

"That's so…" she began.

"Weird?" I suggested.

"No, cool!" she said. "So you can make someone feel a certain way?"

"Sure, watch," I offered, sending her a strong dose of amusement and chuckling again as she doubled over with laughter.

"You're...doing…this?" she managed to gasp out, wiping tears from the corners of her eyes.

"I am," I said with a grin, sending her some calm. "Edward can read minds," I began, before noticing that Bella was feeling slightly embarrassed. "Well," I continued. "He can read everyone's mind but yours. To tell you the truth it's driving him absolutely nuts."

"Does anyone else in your family have a gift?" she asked me curiously.

"Well. Alice could see the future."

"Your girlfriend?" she asked suddenly, and I could feel a pang of jealousy shoot through her.

I would be lying if I said I didn't feel at least a small amount of satisfaction that Bella was jealous of a perceived romantic rival. "No, not anymore. She is actually my ex-wife. She left me to go find her 'true mate' as she called it."

"Her true mate?" Bella asked, and the jealousy that she felt was quickly turning into indignation.

"Vampires usually mate for eternity," I said. "I guess it was a marriage of convenience. Nobody's heard from her in a while, but I wish her the best," I said with a shrug. "I can see what she meant about it not being right though, because after I got over the initial resentment of her divorcing me, I found that I didn't miss her all that much."

"Oh, okay," Bella said quietly, and I felt her doubt.

"Really, Isabella," I said, looking her in the eye.

"I guess you can feel that, can't you," she said, blushing. "I don't know. I don't really have any place feeling jealous."

"What if," I said taking her hand in mine and rubbing small circles on the back of it with my thumb before looking up and catching her gaze. "What if I kind of _like_ that you felt a little jealous?"

Bella blushed even redder and looked away. "I don't know," she said again. Suddenly, I felt a surge of confidence go through her. "That's okay, I guess," she said, looking back up at me and smiling. "Her loss," she added with a small shrug.

BPOV

Where was I getting this from? I could barely manage to fend off Mike Newton, but here I was, basically telling the most beautiful man I had ever laid eyes upon that I was glad that he was available. Who was I kidding though? He obviously had just gotten out of a relationship; he wasn't going to move on with me. He obviously felt obligated to be nice to me.

"Bella, what's wrong?" Jasper's words snapped me out of my thoughts. Crap, if I planned on spending any more time with Jasper I would have to learn to control my emotions.

"Sorry," I stammered. "I…I don't know," I finished lamely.

"No Bella, what's wrong?" he asked, and I suddenly realized that my hand was cold. He was still holding my hand.

"Listen, Jasper," I began. "I don't want to make you feel obligated to be nice to me. I know you just got out of a relationship and you don't have to…I really like you Jasper, but I don't want to impose myself on you."

"Darlin', it's not an imposition," he said. "After I ran out of your house that first time, I made a promise never to walk away from you again, unless you want me to."

"Never," I breathed without thinking.

JPOV

Bella had just told me that she never wanted me to walk away from her again, and I couldn't stop myself from giving her my most dazzling smile. Downstairs, I could hear Esme squeal quietly with glee over what she had heard – usually my family tried their best to give us all privacy, but I knew Esme couldn't help herself when she overheard things like this.

All too soon, however, it came time for me to take her home. I didn't want her father to worry, and I wanted to make a good impression. After all, I hoped I would be seeing a lot more of her, and I didn't want him to feel that I wasn't someone that he could entrust his daughter to.

"I wish you didn't have to leave," she said sadly.

"Well…" I thought for a few moments and said, "I'll tell you what. Go inside and get ready for bed or whatever and I'll be back in a couple hours. We can talk a little while longer after your father goes to sleep."

JPOV

I knew what Bella meant, I didn't really want to say goodnight just yet, either. I didn't see what harm it would cause to come back a little later; if I was still able to, I would have been too wired to sleep myself, so I was pretty sure she felt the same way.

I drove the car back to my house and as soon as I walked in the door, Emmett ambushed me. "Aww Jazzy's got a new girlfriend!"

Normally, I might have been annoyed but I couldn't get the stupid grin off my face, so I just shrugged. "I guess so."

"I'm so happy for you, my son," Esme said, hugging me. "You deserve happiness, and Bella is lovely." I could feel the joy radiating off of her.

"Thank you, Esme," I said genuinely. "I'm probably going to go back over there in a little while, but I wanted to give her a chance to spend some time with her dad."

"Oooooh," Emmett said, winking and nudging me a few times.

"Shut up, Emmett," I rolled my eyes at him.

"Get your mind out of the gutter," Rosalie agreed, coming up to me. "I like her a lot, Jasper," she told me. "I didn't really expect to, but I'm happy for you. Maybe she and I could be friends someday," she added quietly, feeling hopeful.

"I have no doubt, Rose," I replied, hugging her before heading upstairs to kill a few hours before I could return to my Bella.

**A/N: a fun factoid: In 2007, a first edition of Wuthering Heights sold on auction for $225,500, but we all know the Cullens are very generous.**

**Reviews are awesome  
**


	10. Chapter 10

**Sorry this took a while. This is just more fluff/bonding stuff, but I figured that before anything stressful can happen to them, they need to develop their relationship, right? And I know I hate stuff that has them declaring their love for each other in the third chapter...it just isn't realistic :) Hope you enjoy, and I've already started the next chapter so that should be up sooner rather than later.**

BPOV

Charlie was home by the time I got back from Jasper's, so I went in to say hi. I found him, like usual, in front of the television watching some sporting event or another. "Hey Dad," I said as I came in and sat down on the couch next to him.

"Hey Bells," Charlie said. "So where'd you go for dinner?" he asked curiously. I should have known I'd have to explain myself.

"I was over at the Cullen house," I said.

Charlie perked up. "Oh, that boy that helped you last week?"

"Yeah," I said, not able to help the grin that spread across my face.

"What's his name again?" he asked.

"Jasper Hale," I replied.

"He's too old for you."

"Dad! He's only a senior!" I protested.

"Right," Charlie said. "Well, when do I get to meet this Jasper Hale?"

"I don't know, soon I guess," I replied with a shrug. "You'll probably be seeing a lot of him."

"Oh boy," Charlie said with a smile.

***

A little while later I was sitting in my room replying to an email from my mother when I heard a quiet tap, causing me to jump and almost fall out of my chair. When I recovered I looked to see smiling Jasper sitting on the tree branch next to my window, so I let him in.

"Do you often climb trees to get to girls' bedrooms?" I asked him with a grin.

"All the time," he replied with a smirk.

"I was wondering what you meant when you said you'd come back later, but I should have figured it wouldn't be too hard for you to scale the side of my house," I said.

"Wait a sec," Jasper said, jumping back out the window.

As soon as he was gone, my bedroom door opened and Charlie poked his head in. "Night Bells."

"Good night, Dad."

As soon as Charlie was gone, Jasper was back. "I heard him coming up the stairs," he explained. "Good thing I got out of here in time."

"I absolutely cannot imagine how Charlie would take you being in my room," I said with a laugh. "He'd probably shoot you."

"That in itself could prove to be most interesting," Jasper said. "I'd have to come up with a quick explanation for why I was bulletproof."

"Seriously. And I don't think he'd buy the immortal excuse."

We talked for a little while, mostly about our likes and dislikes. Surprisingly, Jasper and I liked a lot of the same books and music. He told me how he was born in Houston, Texas and though he couldn't remember much about his human life, he remembered that his mother made the best pecan pie in the county and that there were a bunch of Magnolia trees in his back yard.

"Jasper, when did you become a vampire?" I asked him suddenly.

Jasper didn't say anything for a few moments and then quietly said, "1863. I was twenty years old."

"You must have seen a lot in your life," I observed, though his apprehension was not lost on me.

"You have no idea," he said so quietly that I could barely hear him.

I was going to say something else but before I could, I yawned hugely. "You ought to get some sleep, you have to get up for school tomorrow," he suggested.

"I'm not tired," I protested, yawning again.

"Right," he said, giving me another of his dazzling smiles. "Get some rest, I'll sit with you while you fall asleep."

***

When I woke up the next morning, Jasper was gone. I found a folded note next to my head on the pillow along with a magnolia blossom, though I had absolutely no idea where he would have gotten it.

_Isabella,_

_I'm sorry that I can't be there when you wake up, but I had to go hunting before school today. I'll be back before you can miss me._

_Yours,_

_Jasper_

I couldn't help but smile as I tucked the note away in case Charlie decided to go investigating in my bedroom.

After a quick shower, I got dressed and was in the middle of pouring a bowl of cereal when there was a knock on the door. I opened it to discover Jasper standing there. "You're driving the Jeep?" I asked curiously, noticing Emmett's beast of a vehicle in the driveway.

"I guess so," he said with a shrug. "I'm going to go get myself a car soon, Carlisle needs his to go to the hospital and I can't very well pick you up on a motorcycle without your father having a fit."

"You don't have to buy a car on account of me," I protested. "Anyway, I can drive myself."

"Nonsense, Darlin', what kind of gentleman would I be if I allowed that to happen? Anyway, I wouldn't mind an actual car of my own again. Are you ready to go?"

"In a minute," I replied, beckoning for him to follow me into the house where I quickly inhaled my cereal and grabbed my bag. "Crap, we're going to be late if we don't leave soon."

"I drive fast, remember?" he asked, shooting me that dazzling grin of his.

JPOV

I could feel Bella's anxiety increase as we approached the school. "What's wrong?" I asked curiously.

"People are going to talk," she said with a shrug. "You know I hate being the center of attention."

"People are already talking," I told her gently. "Your friend Jessica has been spreading rumors left and right since yesterday at lunch." Bella's face registered abject horror. "Don't worry your pretty little head, Darlin', everything's gonna be all right. It's going to be hard for me to keep an eye out for you since we're in different grades, but if you like I could have Esme call the school and have Edward moved into a few more of your classes?"

"Maybe," she said. "Let's see how it goes today. I mean, it's not like I'm not going to see you all day, aren't your classes 'conveniently located' near mine?"

"Well," I chuckled. "I might have taken a liberty there, but I'll be there."

Bella smirked. "I knew that was bull."

I put the car in park, and could already hear chatter about the school's new hot couple – namely, Bella and myself. I hoped for Bella's sake that some other scandal would arise soon to distract them.

I figured that as long as everyone was watching we might as well give them something to stare at, so I made a big show of going around to Bella's side and helping her out of the car. "You did that on purpose," she accused, grinning at me.

"Well, I figured they needed something to talk about until lunch, right?" I asked, slinging an arm around her shoulders as we made our way over to my family.

"What are they thinking?" Bella surprised me by asking Edward.

Edward appeared startled for a minute before he remembered that I'd told her about his gift. "The usual curiosity, peppered with a strong dose of 'what does she have that we don't,' etcetera, etcetera," he replied. "Jessica Stanley has a whole list of questions for you, however," he added with a smirk. He grimaced. "And she's wondering if perhaps she now has a chance with me since her friend is dating my brother."

Emmett let out a laugh so loud that everyone around turned to stare. "Thanks for taking the focus off of me, Em," Bella said with a smirk.

BPOV

"Seriously Bella, what's going on with you and Jasper Hale?" Jessica had been bugging me with questions about Jasper the entire homeroom period and well into the first period.

"I don't know exactly," I replied. "We're friends."

"Seems like more than just that," Jessica remarked. "I mean, you like him, right?"

"Hell yes," I said without even thinking. I imagined that with his super hearing, Jasper probably caught that and was having a chuckle over it. "I don't know, Jess. Things are just going to shape up as they will on their own."

"Did you kiss him?" she asked.

"No," I said. "Like I said, it's early."

"But you want to, right?" she asked. "Right?" She looked like she was about to fall off her chair.

"Of course I do," I said.

Satisfied with the information she had gathered to share with the rest of the world later on, Jessica turned her attention back to class. Finally.

When the bell rang, I exited the classroom and almost ran right into Jasper, who immediately put his arm around me. "So, Isabella, I couldn't help but overhear that you wanted to kiss me." His voice was low and velvety, with just the slightest hint of his nearly forgotten southern accent, and I involuntarily shivered.

"Eavesdropping is very ru—" He cut me off suddenly, pressing his lips to mine. "Rude," I finished finally, blushing furiously. "Guess you heard."

"I've been wanting to do that since your first day here," he said. "Sorry."

"Why the hell are you apologizing?" I asked, starting to walk to escape the small mob that had gathered at Jasper's impromptu display of affection.

"It's not exactly gentleman-like," he shrugged. "I'm pretty sure my mama didn't raise me to throw myself at unsuspecting young ladies…" He gave me a huge smirk. "And nearly give them heart attacks."

I shoved him playfully. "It's all right. Just please let it happen again, often. I enjoy the adrenaline rush from near heart attacks."

"Later, Isabella," Jasper said as we reached my next class. He planted a considerably less smoldering kiss on my forehead before he sent me in. "I Promise."

**Reviews are sweet.**


	11. Chapter 11

**This took a long time, I'm really sorry. I got hit by writer's block, once again, but I'm nearly halfway through the next chapter, and the drama is going to be starting in either that or the next, so stay tuned :) In the meantime, enjoy this one. And, thanks for all of the great reviews 33  
**

BPOV

As students trickled into the room before class was to start, I zoned out on thoughts of what had just happened mere minutes before. I hadn't pegged Jasper for the type to be comfortable with PDA – especially now that I knew his family's secret. From what I understood, they strove to fade into the background as best as they could and not draw undue attention to themselves. Because I was so busy woolgathering though, I didn't notice when Mike Newton slid into the desk next to me. "Hey Bella."

"Hey Mike, what's up?" I asked. I knew what was coming, but at the same time, I thought that maybe he'd just be willing to let it go.

No such luck. "So, Jasper Hale, huh?"

I shrugged. "What about Jasper?"

"Guess you're settled, then," he said icily.

"Excuse me?" I asked.

"C'mon, Bella. You told me just the other day that you didn't want to date anybody and now you're sucking face with Hale in the hallway?"

My cheeks burned, and I cursed my reflexive blushing. Damn it, why couldn't he have done this in a class that I had other friends in? He probably planned this in advance. "Well Mike, I don't see why that is any of your business anyway," I managed to get out, relieved that my voice sounded strong and steady.

"Forget it," he said dismissively. I suspected that he actually didn't have anything better to say, and I sighed in relief when the teacher called the class to order.

***

After class, I walked out of the room and ran straight into Jasper, who looked furious. "Where is he?" he asked.

"No Jasper just let it go. Anyway, how would you know what happened?"

"It doesn't matter Isabella. It was wrong."

"Please?" I asked. "It's not worth it." I bit my lip and looked up at him nervously.

His features softened. "All right. But next time I'm not going to let it slide."

"Not going to let what slide?" I looked up startled to see Mike Newton coming over towards Jasper.

JPOV

I looked at Bella, who was staring at me like a deer in the headlights. The usual crowd had begun to gather, and I could feel how nervous she was. I was also – after all, if he tried to pick a fight, even if I didn't lay a finger on him he could break his hand trying to hit me, and how was I supposed to explain that? I figured I could try to keep a safe distance between the two of us and hope for the best.

I shot Bella an apologetic glance and said quietly, "I happened to hear that you were disrespectful towards Bella. Would you care to explain?"

Mike's features contorted in rage and had I not sent an extremely concentrated dose of calm his way, my fears might have come true. While a second ago he looked as if he were about to lunge at me, his muscles relaxed almost instantly. "No…it was wrong of me," he said with a sigh. "I'm sorry Bella."

"It's okay," she said, blushing. I could tell she really hated having an audience.

"All right, Mike. I'm sure it won't happen again, right?" I asked him, making him feel only the slightest hint of fear.

He shook his head. "No, no it won't," he said quietly. "I gotta go." He took off down the hall at a steady clip and Bella glared at me.

"Was that necessary?' she asked.

"I apologize as well, Bella, I should have just walked away," I conceded. "Forgive me?"

"I suppose," she said, a small smile on her face.

BPOV

I was happy that the next period was lunch, because it would be nice to just sit there and relax. I was especially pleased that I wouldn't be sitting at the same table as Mike Newton, though I could imagine the things he would be saying about me wouldn't be very nice.

I was regarding the unidentifiable substance on the tray in front of me when Rosalie slid into the seat next to me. "Hey Bella."

"Hi Rose," I said, picking the apple up off the tray and pushing the rest away. There was no way I was going to eat that.

"I heard about what Newton said to you," she said. "He's a total creep."

"I gathered," I replied. "I thought he was nice, I hung out with him and his friends once, but I can't believe that a nice person would say that to me. It was just so unnecessary."

"Last year, he decided that he was going to make a play for me," she said. "It was comical really, because we didn't have any classes together, and I'm a grade ahead of him – he didn't even know me personally. Something has given him some kind of ridiculous confidence though. He was calling the house and everything. Emmett had to corner him in the locker room and suggest that he leave me alone."

"Poor kid about pissed his pants!" Emmett said gleefully.

"Jasper wanted to say something but I didn't want him to. Then, of course, Mike overheard what we were saying and tried to confront him. I didn't mind being his friend, but it seems as if he never really wanted my friendship."

"I'm no mind reader, but according to Edward, his thoughts are revolting…like, more so than the average teenaged boy." She wrinkled her nose. "I cannot imagine."

"You wouldn't want to," Edward interjected. "It's disgusting."

"Should I be worried?"

Rosalie shook her head. "He's just a little creep, that's all. I don't know why these human girls all flock to him. I'm willing to bet that they wouldn't if they were able to read his mind."

I sighed. "I always seem to attract the weirdos."

"Hey, I'm right here," Jasper protested, a grin on his face.

"He's saying some pretty awful things over there," Rosalie frowned. "Someone ought to teach him some manners." She smirked. "Now he's staring at you."

Jasper suddenly wrapped his arms around me and planted a huge kiss on my lips. "Bet he didn't like that one bit, either."

"Not in the slightest," Edward agreed. "He's thinking of all sorts of ways that he can get you alone so that he can beat the crap out of you."

"You can't let that happen, Jasper," I protested. "It'll expose you. Just stay away from him."

Jasper gave my shoulders a gentle squeeze. "Don't you worry, Darlin', I'm not gonna do anything."

"Hey Bella," Rosalie piped up. "Would you like to go shopping with me later on?"

"Sure, Rose, that'd be great," I replied. I needed some new clothes anyway.

"We'll get you something really hot to wear to school so Newton really feels his loss!" Rose grinned, and I smiled back at her. I could tell that we were going to be great friends.

**Reviews are appreciated :)**


	12. Chapter 12

**This is a kind of bonus chapter, the shopping trip with Bella and Rosalie. The next chapter should be up sometime in the next 48 hours or so.  
**

BPOV

I was never a huge fan of shopping; my friends back in Arizona had kind of killed it for me with the way that they would spend hours in one store, scouring the racks for bargains while I was always able to go into a store, make a quick lap and leave with what I needed, all in under twenty minutes.

Since Rosalie was such a fashion plate, I feared this would be the case with her, but I was pleasantly surprised. Rose seemed to have shopping down to an exact science, quickly moving about the store and grabbing the things that she wanted. The store employees seemed to be able to smell a large sale when Rose came in, because they were always more than helpful.

I didn't really want to buy too much; I didn't have too much money in savings, seeing as I hadn't gotten a job yet, so I wasn't really paying too much attention to what I was looking at. Instead, I found myself really enjoying Rose's company – she was surprisingly similar in personality to Jasper with her quick wit and sarcastic streak; I could see why the Cullens always portrayed them as twins.

"Don't you see anything you like?" she asked, after dumping a huge pile of garments into the arms of the sales girl.

"Well, I see some things, but I don't really have a ton of cash, so I'm just along for the ride," I replied with a shrug.

"Nonsense," Rose clipped. "Please, pick some things out, I hate trying clothes on by myself." She glanced around. "This dress would be absolutely divine on you, you have to try it." She pushed a black satin dress with lace around the top and bottom at me. "Please."

"Well, all right," I said. I glanced around and picked up a few more things that I liked, trying very hard to not look at the price tag – Rose didn't mess around with bargain stores.

***

It figured that I would find a ton of things that I actually wanted, and also couldn't afford. While I was considering this dilemma, Rose hung up a bunch of rejects and asked, "Find anything?"

"I can't decide what to take and what to put back," I replied.

"Take it all," she said, as if it were the most obvious solution in the world.

"I can't take them all," I said.

"Sure you can, my treat," she replied with a grin.

"You know I can't accept all of this," I protested.

"Yes you can," she said firmly. "It's only money."

"Easy for you to say," I grumbled.

"No really, Bella," Rose said seriously. "Money is not a concern to us," she said quietly. "When you run out of it, you just get more. We've been around for a long time to accumulate our wealth. I love buying clothes for people, please just enjoy."

"I guess I understand, but it's just difficult to grasp for me, because I've always never had enough money," I said.

"Jeez Bella, if you think I'm bad, what are you going to do when Jasper tries to spend money on you? I can promise you he's more extravagant than I could ever be."

"That's what I'm afraid of," I grumbled.

JPOV

Bella was off shopping with Rosalie, so I decided to take the time to go on a much-needed hunt. I hadn't been feeding as often as I should have been, given my current relationship status, so it seemed like an excellent idea. "Hey Emmett, you wanna go hunting?"

Emmett looked up from where he was glued to the TV playing the NHL 09 game on his Playstation 3. "Sure, Rosie's with Bella anyway, I have plenty of time to win the cup later," he replied with a grin, turning off the game.

I always liked hunting with Emmett the best; he and I were the closest of all of the Cullen siblings, and we always managed to turn it into a game (with money at stake, of course). While I was searching out a mountain lion, I let my mind drift to the possibility of someday hunting with Bella, but I quickly stuffed that idea down – one, because I wasn't sure where Edward was and didn't want him hearing, and two, I had known Bella for such a short period of time, I doubted she'd want to give up her life to become a vampire.

I hoped that someday she would though.

***

When we eventually decided to head back to the house, Emmett was grumbling about the $200 that he owed me for not catching a bear before I took down two mountain lions.

"Sorry, Bro, you win some, you lose some," I said smugly.

"Next time, the money's mine," he promised. "Hey, I think Rosie and Bella are back!"

I had to smile. Emmett was always excited about something – I think the part of his personality that was childlike in nature never really left him – but the only thing that could get him more excited than a grizzly bear or beating a video game was the prospect of seeing Rosalie. I guess I never really understood; Alice never gave me any time to myself, but I realized that I was feeling the separation from Bella very strongly as well, and I picked up my pace towards the house.

"I want you to know that I really like Bella," Emmett said as we reached the edge of our property. "You two seem really good together."

"Thanks, Emmett," I said. "I really like her too."

"Well, that's obvious, don't think I missed the way that you made double time to get back here quicker or anything," he said laughing. "But seriously. Rosalie likes her too, and that's rare."

"Don't I know it," I laughed, thinking back nearly sixty years to when Alice and I had first met the Cullens – and how Rosalie had made it known in no uncertain terms what she thought of her. Over time, the two had come to a sort of truce, and Rose's vocal dislike had turned to a more quiet contempt veiled by excessive politeness. Others were treated with the same air, and aside from our family, nobody got to see the Rosalie that the rest of us did. With Bella however, Rose seemed to take an immediate liking, and I was sure that the friendship would do both of them a world of good.

"Jasper!" Bella ran out to meet me. "I didn't think you'd be here."

"We were just waiting for you two to get back, Darlin'," I told her, kissing her on the forehead. "Did you have a nice time at the mall?"

"Yeah, even though Rose insisted on spending way too much money on me," she said with a frown.

"That's how we all are, get used to it," Emmett interjected. "So, did you guys go to Victoria's Secret?" He gave her a huge grin.

Bella blushed. I guess that answered that question.

**Reviews are love**


	13. Chapter 13

**This took a little longer than I said it would - it's turning out that I'm not very good at giving time estimates. Oh well...enjoy :)  
**

JPOV

Time seems to fly out the window when you're immortal. For a human, three months seems like forever, but for my kind it's akin to the blink of an eye. It was now nearly the end of December, and even I could hardly believe how much time had passed.

I was still absurdly happy with Bella, who was currently being made up by Rosalie for a date with me. Right now, the two of them had been locked in Rose and Emmett's bedroom for two hours, and I was starting to get a little nervous – I hoped she wasn't making any drastic changes.

"You're projecting," Edward remarked as he passed by my study, where I had been reading the same page in a book for the past half hour.

"I can't help it," I shrugged. "I feel anxious when I'm apart from her."

"You're not really apart from her though, she's right across the hall," he pointed out.

"I know. You know how it is though. I've never felt this way about anyone before."

"Do you love her?" he asked, though I'm sure that he already knew the answer to that question.

"I really do," I sighed. "I've been wanting to say something to her for a long time about my feelings, but I don't know how she's going to react."

"Well, you know I can't read her mind, but I'm pretty sure she probably feels the same way," Edward replied.

"You don't understand though," I said with another sigh. "I haven't told her. You know, about my past."

Edward entered the room and sat down in the other chair. "Listen, Jasper. Like I said, I can't read her mind, but Bella and I have gotten pretty close, and just based on the way that she talks about you, I'm positive she's not going to judge you by your past."

"And the scars, can you imagine what she's going to think when she sees my scars?" I asked. "She's going to know that I'm a monster."

Edward let out an exasperated sigh. "Listen Jasper. She knows that you're the newest to this kind of lifestyle. If she weren't okay with your human drinking past, she wouldn't be here right now. She has faith in you, Jasper, so please have some faith in her."

"How can you be so sure?"

"I spend a ton of time with her," he pointed out. "She knows that she's my singer, but she also has enough faith in me that I won't hurt her that I know that she'll be fine with whatever you throw at her."

It was true; Bella had forged a strong bond with each of my siblings, and didn't seem bothered in the slightest by what we were. My control around her was impeccable, and she never had any reason to feel threatened by me or Edward, Rose, and Emmett. I nodded. "You're right, I need to tell her. I know that I can't move forward in this relationship if everything isn't out on the table."

"Everything will turn out fine," Edward assured me. "You'll see."

BPOV

"You're not going to put me in heels, are you? I can't walk in heels." I was beginning to panic. Sure I'd been places with Jasper, but we'd never gone on an actual date. I thought it was extremely unfair that I was locked in here with Rose and my nerves when I was sure that Jasper was probably cool as a cucumber, with his stoic vampire senses. Meanwhile, I was freaking out.

"Bella, relax," Rose said, taking a break from curling my hair and stepping back. "You'll be fine in the heels, because Jasper will probably not be able to keep his hands off of you. Therefore, you won't be able to fall. What's the big deal?"

"I don't know, okay? I'm just nervous as hell. I have such strong feelings for Jasper but I don't want to rush anything, you know?"

"Just tell him how you feel," Rose advised. "Jasper has been through a lot in his life. I've known him for more than fifty years, and I swear to you he's never been this happy."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"It's not my place to tell you Jasper's story," Rose said gently. "He will tell you himself when he's ready." She went back to curling my hair. "That is if he doesn't die when he sees how hot you look tonight!"

"Be serious, Rose," I grumbled. "I'm too plain to look hot."

Rose helped me up and led me over to a full-length mirror. "Really? Could've fooled me."

I somehow managed to stop myself from gasping; I looked amazing. "Wow Rose, you do good work."

"I told you to trust me," she said, rolling her eyes. "Jasper is going to flip when he sees you," she added, grinning.

I was practically flipping seeing myself. I was wearing a short silvery blue dress that had somewhat puffed sleeves and a high collar with black tights and a pair of black patent pumps with a three-inch heel – I was completely going to kill myself in them, I could already tell. My hair was parted on the side and had been slightly curled and left to fall slightly past my shoulders. Rosalie had also somehow managed to make my eyes look even bigger, with smoky black and gray eye shadow, and she had just lightly applied some pink lip gloss. "I can't figure out how you managed to make me look so good," I said, gaping at myself.

"You're beautiful, Bella, I wish you would just believe me," she said with an exasperated sigh. "Try to walk in the shoes."

I took a few cautious steps. "So far, so good."

"Just watch where you're walking and you should be fine," Rosalie said. "Watch out for cracks on the ground. I'm sure Jasper won't mind holding you up though," she added. "Come on, it's time for you to go meet him downstairs."

I walked down the stairs (slowly) to meet Jasper, who had been waiting at the bottom. He was wearing a pair of simple black pants and a black buttoned down shirt with the top button undone, the sleeves rolled up to the elbow. I looked up to meet his eyes and promptly tripped, sending me flying ungracefully into his arms. "Sorry."

"What do you have to be sorry for, Darlin'?" He pressed a gentle kiss to my lips before carefully settling me on my feet. "You look beautiful."

"You don't look so bad yourself," I managed to get out. It was amazing, three months with Jasper and I still had trouble collecting my thoughts when I looked straight at him.

JPOV

I was extremely nervous. Like I told Edward earlier, tonight I was going to tell Bella my story. I couldn't wait anymore, and she needed to know who I was before she continued in a relationship with me – one that had the potential to grow pretty serious as it was, because at this point, I had difficulty imagining an existence without Bella – if she could even look at me afterwards, that is.

I had my reservations about wearing a shirt where the scars on my arms were visible. Usually I wore long-sleeved shirts, something that looked kind of strange in the summertime when everyone else was wearing little clothing, but it was a sensitive issue for me. I had a fair deal of scars on my forearms, and they were exposed. She had to have seen the few on my jaw and neck, but she hadn't said anything about them. Maybe she hadn't even noticed – they're very pale, difficult for human eyes to register on my already pale skin, but who knows.

I wasn't really prepared for seeing Bella as she descended the stairs. Don't get me wrong, she is always beautiful to me, but I'd never seen her dressed up before – words didn't even describe the way she looked. Rosalie looked pretty proud of herself, too.

***

After we had shoved past Emmett, who was being his usual tactful self, causing Bella to blush furiously when he told her to make sure we didn't get arrested for indecent exposure, I helped Bella into Carlisle's car which someone had kindly pulled around to the front of the house. "Where are we going, anyway?" she asked curiously.

"It's a surprise," I told her, starting to drive towards Port Angeles.

"You know I hate surprises," she grumbled.

"You'll like this one, I swear," I promised, imagining the look on her face when we arrived at our destination.

I hadn't even known that there was a local orchestra, so I was thrilled when I found out about the Port Angeles Symphony. I knew from conversations with Bella that she loved Classical Music but never really had many opportunities to hear it played in a concert setting, despite Phoenix having a decent local Orchestra.

"Where are we heading, anyway?" she asked after few minutes. "Obviously out of Forks."

"To Port Angeles," I replied. "Come on Bella, you know there isn't anything to do in Forks besides the excellent Vampire watching."

She giggled and relaxed. "Alright Jasper, you can surprise me."

"I hadn't planned on having it any other way," I said with a grin, reaching across the center console to take her hand, reveling in its warmth.

As I pulled into the concert hall, I could feel Bella's anticipation building. I reached into my pocket and handed her the tickets. "Surprise."

"What? Oh My God," she said, her eyes wide. Tonight, the Orchestra was playing Beethoven's Fifth Symphony, which I knew was one of Bella's favorites.

"I didn't even know we had an orchestra nearby until Edward told me about them. It's a small volunteer organization but they're pretty good apparently."

"This is amazing, thank you, Jasper!" She leaned over and gave me a quick kiss before we got out of the car.

***

During the performance, I could still feel Bella's awe and gratitude; I was happy that she was so appreciative of even the smallest things. I made a mental note to perhaps travel to see a more world-class orchestra in the future – surely there were some cloudy days in Los Angeles during the season.

When the concert ended, it was only about 10 pm. "Would you like to go for a walk around the harbor with me?" I asked her.

She sighed and I felt her disappointment. "I'd love to, but Charlie is probably expecting me home soon."

I grinned. "Not the case, Rosalie called him earlier and informed him that you were spending the night with her."

"And he bought it?" she asked me incredulously.

"You know as well as I that Rose can be very persuasive. Anyway, I'm apparently on a trip to Seattle for the weekend with Emmett, and she's lonely and wants company."

"Well, if that's the case, then I'd love to go for a walk with you, Mr. Whitlock." Bella took the hand that I offered and we began our walk to the harbor nearby.

We had been walking for a little while when I couldn't hold it in anymore. "Bella, there's something I need to tell you."

**A/N 1: I have no idea about the quality of the Port Angeles Symphony, or the Phoenix Symphony, for that matter. I guess for the purposes of this story though, they're decent. According to their website, they've played internationally so they must not be completely awful. (I'm not a terrible classical music snob, only a tiny one)**

**A/N 2: Sorry for the cliffhanger, I was going to put Jazz's story in this chapter but I wanted a little more time to work on it to make it perfect; don't worry it'll be up sooner rather than later.  
**

**Also, there is a link to Bella's outfit in my profile, I know some people like a visual aid :)**

**Reviews are lovely**


	14. Chapter 14

**This took a little while, but I think I like the way that it turned out. Enjoy :)  
**

BPOV

Jasper and I had been walking hand in hand around the harbor of Port Angeles when he suddenly said "Bella, there's something I need to tell you."

My heart skipped a beat, and I immediately felt panicked. Jasper must've felt my sudden change in emotion, because I suddenly felt a wave of calm engulf me. "Don't worry Darlin', it's just…I won't feel right about our relationship until I tell you the entire story about myself and my past."

"Jeez Jasper, you need to come up with a better way to segue into these sorts of things, you almost gave me a heart attack," I said, trying to further calm myself.

Jasper laughed. "I noticed, and I'm really sorry. It's just…well, I care about you more than I think that I've ever cared for anyone, and I need you to know the real me before you make up your mind about me."

I was pretty sure that he could tell me just about anything and it wouldn't matter, but I could see that he really needed to get it out, but I suddenly realized that I was freezing. "That's fine, Jasper…why don't we head back to your house where it's a little warmer?"

"Good idea, Darlin'." He wrapped an arm around my shoulders and pulled me closer as we began the short walk back to the car.

***

On the ride home, we didn't talk about our impending conversation. Instead, Jasper tried to get me to tell him what I wanted for Christmas.

"I told you, I don't want anything," I said. "I hate receiving gifts."

"Well, if you're not going to tell me, you're going to have to take what I give you," he replied with a smirk and a shrug.

I sighed dramatically. "You Cullens."

JPOV

Inwardly, I cursed my habit of speeding. We had arrived home from Port Angeles in half the time that it would take a normal, cautious driver, and that now meant that I was out of time. I had to tell Bella my story.

The house was quiet; my family was nowhere in sight. I suspected that they had all gone hunting. This was good; Bella and I could talk in the family room, where it was comfortable. I thought about bringing her up to my study, but I figured that it seemed too formal. As it is, my old fear that she would run screaming from the house had returned; this was not going to be easy for me. At least she'd be close to the door.

"Do you want anything? Coffee? Tea? Coke?" Now I was just buying time.

"No thank you," she replied, and patted the couch next to her. "Relax, Jasper. Sit."

"This isn't a nice story," I started.

"I figured as much, but I want to hear it," she replied with a shrug. "It's about you, though, and I want to know the whole you, so please don't try to sugar coat things for me. I _want_ to hear the whole thing."

I took a deep breath, and began, though I wasn't ready to sit down just yet. "I was born in 1843, in Houston. Things were different then, and I wanted to prove that I was an adult – the only way that I could see was by joining the army, which I did when I was seventeen, in 1859. The Civil War hadn't even started yet, the conflict was just kind of brewing at that point, but my mother was mad as hell at me anyway." I paused here and smiled. "I can still remember the look on her face when I told her what I had just done. But I was proud of myself and my decision – I was sure that I was making the right choice."

"How'd you manage to join at seventeen?" Bella asked curiously.

"I lied about my age," I replied with a shrug. "I was tall and looked older than I was, and at that point they knew something big was coming – all the recruits they could get they took."

"I see. What happened next?" she asked.

"War was inevitable, and things started happening, as the southern states started to secede from the union. I was barely eighteen when I began to rise through the ranks – I guess I had my gift of influence even then, but I managed to become the youngest Major in the Confederate army."

I didn't feel anything coming from Bella except for interest, so I decided to finally sit down beside her on the couch. "I was lucky, or so I thought, because I made it through the first three years of the war without any real injuries or anything, though I lost quite a few friends. People listened to me and trusted my judgment, so I was often able to get my men out of situations without many casualties. In 1863, we were evacuating Galveston, and I saw three women walking on the side of the road, so I went over to help them. I soon realized my mistake – they were all inhumanly beautiful, and I heard the one say to the others that I was worth keeping around before she leaned in and bit me before I could even make sense of the situation."

"I burned for what seemed like forever, but it turned out it was only three days. The pain of the change is excruciating. When I woke up, Maria was there – she was the one who bit me, and she informed me that she was my creator, and that I was indebted to her for her allowing me to live. Newborn vampires are volatile, and I was no different, though I soon was able to rein myself in enough to not attack everyone in my line of sight. It turned out that my gift for influencing people had transferred over to my new life, as well, because I soon realized that I could make people feel certain things. Maria thought this was great, and I was soon her second in command. See, she was building a different sort of army, of vampires, so that she could gain control of Mexico City and the surrounding areas. What better to help her out, in her mind, than a ranking officer of a real army?"

"So that's what I did. I helped her command. I changed people into vampires, because she made me. If I didn't, she had her ways of punishing me. I wasn't the only one with a gift that she found useful, and she was never afraid to use any of us against each other if she needed to, to get what she wanted. She would keep the newborns around for about a year, and when their initial strength would wear off, and they could no longer battle against other vampires, she would dispatch them. Or, rather, she would make me dispatch them. Guess she didn't want to get her hands dirty." I stopped here, because I saw an expression of acute rage on Bella's face. "Are you okay? I can stop," I said.

"No, no, I'm fine. Its just…it pisses me right off that she used you for such a horrible purpose! And that she took your life away from you, and you never had a choice!" Bella took a few deep breaths to calm herself down, and continued. "You never deserved any of that. How could you think that'd change my opinion of you?"

I smiled at her; I should have trusted my Isabella to never judge me. "I know…it's just, it's a lot to take, and there's still more to the story that might…upset you," I replied.

"I doubt it, but please, go on," she urged, taking my hand.

"Well I suppose it goes without saying that she wanted to get rid of other vampire covens in the area so that she could have her run of all of the humans in the area. I guess it also goes without saying that I wasn't hunting animals at that time." I sighed and looked down. "It was horrible, especially now that I look back at it through a completely different mindset. I was angry as anything, and I couldn't stop myself from killing people, because I just didn't care. I would just go on these…binges almost. I was half wild, but also a weird mix of detached and guilt-ridden. Eventually, I thought about trying to find some way to kill myself, so that I couldn't cause any more damage, and so that she wouldn't have someone to help her keep control of the newborns. One day when she had sent me to get rid of a group that had outlived its usefulness, I noticed a couple of the newborns, named Peter and Charlotte, had fallen in love. I couldn't bear to harm them, so I told them to run. They did, but they soon returned, to try to convince me to leave with them. I didn't take very much convincing, and I never looked back. I stayed with them for a couple years, but I didn't feel right as a third wheel, so I took off on my own. For a few years, I kept up my human drinking lifestyle, but it became harder and harder, and every person I took, I could feel their emotions – their fear, their desperation, their pain, and it was slowly but surely making me lose the will to live again, and I began to go longer and longer between hunting, which I suppose goes without saying that I was even more of a menace. One night, in 1956, I was in Philadelphia and it began to rain. I saw a diner, and I decided to go in to wait out the weather. I obviously couldn't eat or drink anything, but I could sit in a booth and warm my hands on a cup of coffee and pretend to be human for only a few minutes. That's where I met Alice, who brought me to the Cullens."

Bella squeezed my hand and gave me an encouraging smile.

"I can't say that I have a completely clean track record since then, I have slipped up a few times, and every time it was horrible. If it wasn't for the support of my family, who knows how I would have ended up." I sighed. "I understand if this changes how you feel about me now that you know my entire story," I said sadly.

BPOV

Oh, Jasper. How could he think that his checkered past could change how I felt about him? I told him as much. "Absolutely not," I insisted. "I told you I couldn't judge you."

"I know you did, but it's such a horrible story…" he trailed off, and his self-pity was palpable.

"You were the victim," I stated firmly. "You had no choice."

"That's not all," he said. "I need to show you something." He stood up and unbuttoned his shirt, displaying hundreds of crescent-shaped scars all over his chest, shoulders, and neck. Some of the scars were more pronounced than others, especially around his neck and collarbone region. "I know you've probably seen the scars on my arms, but this is all of them. They're from the newborns – venom is the only thing that can leave a mark on us. It's like a constant reminder to everyone who sees me that I'm a complete monster."

"No!" I insisted. "They're part of you. Sure, they're a constant reminder – that you've suffered. And you know what?" I smiled slyly at him.

"What's that?" he asked.

"Scars are kinda sexy," I said with a wink. It was true, too. While on some the scars might have appeared unappealing, on Jasper they made him look stronger. "You shouldn't be ashamed of your scars, they're part of what makes you who you are," I told him. "You wouldn't be who you are right now if it weren't for your past – no matter how horrible it was."

JPOV

"You never fail to amaze me, Isabella," I told her softly, touching her cheek. "I keep throwing these curveballs at you, and I keep thinking that with each one you're going to run out on me, and you never do."

"I don't think I could," she told me with a shrug. "I…care about you. A lot. And…" she trailed off, as if she cut herself off before she could finish what she was saying. She felt extremely nervous.

"And what?" I pressed.

"I'm…I can't," she said after a long pause. "It's too soon," she mumbled quietly, though with my hearing I was able to hear it perfectly.

"You really can tell me anything," I told her. "Please."

"I think I'm falling in love with you," she said quickly. Then she frowned. "Sorry. Like I said, it's too soon."

"I think I feel the same way," I replied. "Except for the think part…I don't think, I know." There, I said it.

Emmett crashing through the front door, however, ruined what could have been a beautiful moment. "Awwww! Did you hear that Rosie?"

"You are a huge ass," Rosalie hissed at him. She entered the room and fixed us with an apologetic look. "I'm really sorry you guys. I told him not to say anything, but…"

To my surprise though, Bella only laughed. She felt nothing but complete and utter joy. "It's alright, Rose," she assured her. "I'll get my payback some day soon," she whispered so quietly that only I could hear her, though I suspected from the smirk on Rosalie's face that she heard as well.

**Reviews are almost better than Jasper :)**


	15. Chapter 15

**This took a really long time, I know. I appreciate all of you guys for sticking with me even though I'm kinda lazy about getting chapters out on time :)  
**

JPOV

We always made a big deal out of Christmas in the Cullen household. I think it's because there's something about the holiday season that makes people want to decorate the house to the nines and spoil each other with gifts. It might also be because we don't really bother with our birthdays too much – Carlisle isn't entirely sure on the date of his birth anymore, Edward and Rosalie both think they were born somewhere in the summer months, and Alice hadn't a clue when her birthday might have been because she didn't remember anything from her human life. The last birthday we even celebrated in the house was Emmett's in 1935, and that went sour fast when he realized that he wasn't able to eat the cake, which was what he most enjoyed about birthdays in the first place.

That said, when December 20 rolled around, Edward, Emmett, and I went into the woods behind the house to obtain what we had come to call "a most excellent tree," something that would look magnificent in the corner of our living room with it's fifteen-foot ceiling and full wall of windows.

Bella and Rosalie were waiting back at the house, having already started decorating the foyer when we returned with the tree – a huge Scotch Pine that was conveniently growing less than a mile into the woods behind our house. Emmett had apparently had his eye on it for nearly the entire year, and I had to admit that his feelings of pride and triumph over finding the perfect tree had rubbed off on me. "That might be the biggest tree I've ever seen," Bella said incredulously as she slowly looked up at it.

"We don't do anything half-assed," Emmett said.

"So I noticed," Bella said with a grin.

The rest of the evening was spent decorating the massive tree. Bella and I hung ornaments around the bottom, and Rosalie stood on Emmett's shoulders to get the higher ornaments and star on top.

"It's beautiful, Jasper," Bella said when we were done, standing back from the tree and taking in the view.

"Not nearly as beautiful as you," I whispered in her ear, causing my favorite blush to rise to her cheeks. "Especially when you blush," I added, which just made her blush more.

"Get a room, you two," Emmett boomed with a big grin.

"Could you please stop teasing my girlfriend?" I asked him with an edge to my voice.

"No, it's okay," Bella mumbled, looking down.

"No, I'm sorry Isabella, but it isn't. Come on, Emmett…I know you like to tease people but you've gone a little overboard, haven't you?"

Emmett radiated shame. "I guess I have. I'm sorry Bella, I really am. Sometimes I don't really think about how what I say might be affecting others."

"It's okay, Emmett, really," she said. "I just get embarrassed easily is all, really." She glared at me. Shit, I was in trouble.

"Um…Bella, would you like to go for a walk?" I asked her.

"No, I think I ought to get going home," she said, still giving me a death glare.

"Okay, I'll drive you home," I suggested.

"No thank you. Rosalie, would you mind terribly giving me a ride home?"

"Bella, I can do it," I tried.

"Let it rest for a while," Rose said to me, speaking too softly and quickly for Bella's ears. "Sure, Bella," she told her at a normal level.

"I'm sorry if I upset you, Bella," I said quietly. "I love you," I added just as she was walking out the door.

BPOV

I knew that Rosalie wasn't going to be able to keep her mouth shut about what had happened back at the house for long, it had to only be a matter of time before she brought something up.

We were turning onto my street when she finally broke the silence. "What happened back there, anyway?"

"You're asking the wrong person," I grumbled. "Emmett was just being Emmett and Jasper snapped at him."

"Emmett can be a bit too much sometimes," Rosalie said. "I think that Jasper was only concerned about your feelings. It's hard to remember that he can feel everything that you're feeling sometimes."

"I know…honestly I don't even know why I got so irritated. I guess I'm just used to defending myself, and before I could come up with a witty reply, he had jumped down Em's throat." I sighed. "I think I might have fucked up back there," I admitted.

"No, don't blame yourself completely," Rose told me. "Yeah, you did fuck up a little by getting so upset, but he did too."

"I hope he's not too upset with me then," I said. "I wish I could apologize, I feel bad."

"I'm sure he knows you didn't really mean it, but I promise I'll make sure when I get back," Rose said as she pulled into my driveway.

"Thanks, Rose," I said, giving her a hug. "For the ride and the advice," I added.

"Anytime." She smiled at me. "It'll all work out."

JPOV

This wasn't how I had envisioned our evening ending. Sometimes I cursed my ability, because it tended to cause me to overreact in certain circumstances, especially if someone I love felt any disquiet in the situation. When I had felt Bella's flash of embarrassment, I lashed out at Emmett without thinking.

"Stop putting out that remorse, dude, you're making me feel bad," Emmett said from the couch.

"I'm sorry about before," I told him.

"No problem, I know you get cranky sometimes," he laughed. "Bella will get over it too, I'm sure she and Rosie are talking all about it."

"I know, but…you know, I guess I kinda made her feel bad, too," I said with a sigh.

"She'll get over it," Emmett repeated. "It's nothing serious, she's had a long day and she's probably overtired. You have to back off a little bit too, though," he added. "She's a big girl, and can stand up to me herself."

"Nothing phases you, does it?" I mused.

"Only big stuff," he replied. "I'm not gonna let little things like that bug me, anyway, I'm used to all of you getting snappy with me. I'm sure that when she's changed she'll take immense pleasure in kicking my ass."

"Wait, what?" I asked, alarmed.

"I said I don't let little things bother me," Emmett said.

"No, not that. The other part."

"Oh, when she's changed. Come on, Jasper, you know she can't stay human like that forever."

"I know but…we haven't talked about it, and I don't think it's appropriate to even suggest such a thing to her, and…"

Emmett laughed. "Relax, Emo Man, it's fine. I just…wow, I can't believe you haven't discussed that with her."

I couldn't either, but I also couldn't bring myself to bring up the suggestion of taking away her mortality. Not to mention, I couldn't imagine being able to change her, and stop before I completely drained her. "I don't think it's possible," I sighed.

"You have entirely too little faith in yourself," he told me. "Just relax on the issue now, I've been opening my mouth entirely way too much tonight already. Wanna play a quick game to get your mind off of things?"

"Not right now, but thanks," I said. "I'll see you later."

I was just heading out the door to maybe go for a hunt to take my mind off things when Rosalie peeled into the driveway, stopping a couple inches away from me. "Where do you think you're going?" she asked.

"Hunting, I think," I said.

"No, you're going to go over to the Swan house and make things right with Bella," she said.

"I don't think she'd appreciate that very much," I argued.

"Wrong, she wants you to go over there. She just didn't vocalize it."

"Really?"

Rose nodded. "I'm sure of it."

I nodded back, and without a word, set off running towards my Bella's house. When I arrived, I saw that the light in her bedroom was on, and I didn't waste any time scaling the side of the house and knocking lightly on the closed window.

BPOV

I was legitimately freaking out right now about how I'd ran out on Jasper. I'd never acted like this before, and I don't know what had gotten into me over at the Cullen house. I'd never been particularly argumentative, and I'd always been glad to have someone stand up for me when I was being teased, but something about how Jasper snapped at Emmett must've rubbed me the wrong way.

Now though, it all seemed completely stupid, probably because it was. I should have just shrugged it off (but so should have Jasper).

When I'd come into the house, I had been pleasantly surprised by the fact that Charlie had gone to bed early, I didn't feel like having to stop into the living room to say hi and inevitably explain why I looked really unhappy – Charlie was very observant. Instead, I was happy to go straight up the stairs to my room and shut the door and freak out a little bit about what had just happened – which was exactly what I was doing right now.

God, I hoped Jasper wasn't mad at me.

Maybe I ought to call and apologize.

My thoughts were interrupted when I heard a light tapping on my window, causing me to jump a little before I relaxed immediately – I only knew a few people that could make it to my second-story window, and only one that would have a good reason to be here right now.

Jasper gracefully leapt through the window after I opened it, and stopped a few feet away from me. His golden eyes were darker with worry, and his hair was disheveled from the run. He was so beautiful.

"Oh my God, Jasper. I'm so sor—"

He held up his hand. "No, Isabella, I'm the one who's gonna apologize here."

"But I was such a huge bitch," I protested.

"I shouldn't have done that, you are able to stand up for yourself and I was out of line," he said.

"I know but I was so mean to you," I said, my eyes burning and threatening to spill over.

He was standing next to me in a split second, his arms wrapped tightly around me. I could feel the love that he was projecting. "It doesn't matter," he said firmly. "Don't worry, Isabella, the situation is forgotten."

"What about Emmett?" I asked.

"Emmett also told me that you can take care of yourself, and I should let you once in a while," he replied, kissing the top of my head.

"You're not too mad at me?" I asked.

"No way, Darlin', I couldn't be," he replied. "I love you, remember?"

"I know, it's just hard to believe sometimes," I said.

"Well, believe it," he said.

I was going to say something else, but before I could, a yawn interrupted me. "Crap."

Jasper grinned. "Bedtime for the human," he said.

"I'm not tired," I grumbled.

"I can feel how tired you are," he said matter-of-factly. "You can't lie about your feelings to me," he reminded me. "Don't make me hit you with a wave of intense exhaustion to remind you."

"Will you stay?" I asked, looking at him through my eyelashes.

"I'll always stay," he said, pressing his lips gently to mine. "As long as you'll have me."

**Next up, Christmas. What do you suppose will happen?  
**

**Reviews are awesome :)  
**


	16. Chapter 16

**Here's Christmas morning, finally. Enjoy :)**

BPOV

Christmas morning. Charlie had to work, so we had exchanged our gifts for each other last night, before I went over to the Cullen house for another parentally supervised sleepover with Rose, of course. Charlie thought it was a good idea actually – he had become quite fond of Rosalie. Jasper, too, though he didn't like to admit it. I think Charlie's overprotective parent was working overtime because of all of the years that he missed out on.

Speaking of that overprotective parent, I wonder how he'd react if he knew that Jasper spent pretty much every night in my room with me? Probably not well.

"Wake up little sis, its Christmas!!" Emmett's booming voice woke me from my slumber.

"Merry Christmas to you, too, Em," I mumbled, looking around the room, bleary-eyed.

Jasper was sitting up against the headboard next to me reading a book – I think that was how he passed all that time that I spent sleeping. He planted a big kiss on my forehead before standing up and putting the book down on the bedside table. "Esme is making you breakfast, why don't you go take a shower while it's cooking?"

I grinned at him. "That's a good idea, Jas. I'll see you downstairs." Emmett pouted. "You too, Em." They both left the room, Emmett playfully ruffling my hair as he walked by.

I took a quick shower, dressing in a pair of nicer dark-wash jeans and a long-sleeved red v-neck shirt. I wasn't sure how the Cullen family dressed on Christmas; back with both of my parents it was always pajamas, but I knew that some families dressed up for the holiday. At least my shirt was a festive color.

I came downstairs and noticed that everyone was wearing pretty much what they usually did, except for Emmett.

"Ho, Ho, Ho!" he bellowed, holding the sides of his (pillow-stuffed) belly, dressed in full Santa Claus regalia.

"Oh, my," I said, unable to come up with anything better. I burst out laughing, causing everyone else in the vicinity to erupt in laughter as well.

"Special delivery from the North Pole," Emmett said, putting down a plate of french toast smothered in maple syrup in front of me.

"Emmett, give Bella some room to breathe!" Esme scolded him, though her face absolutely radiated joy.

"These are absolutely delicious," I told Esme. "You'd think you could eat all this stuff, your cooking is so wonderful!"

"Thank you dear," she said, beaming at me and kissing me on the top of the head.

"Hurry the hell up and eat your breakfast so we can get to the good part," Emmett groaned impatiently.

"Emmett." Esme warned.

"Jeez, sorry," he pouted, slumping in a chair at the table.

***

Pretty soon, I was done eating breakfast and everyone moved to various locations around the christmas tree.

"Finally," Emmett said. "So. Since I'm already dressed the part, I guess I'll play Santa!"

Jasper shook his head and smiled at Emmett before draping an arm around my shoulders and pulling me a little closer to him.

Emmett started handing out presents to everyone from the huge pile that was underneath the tree. I had been worried about what I had gotten for everyone, since the financial gap between the Cullens and myself was considerable, but I ought to have not worried; everyone seemed genuinely delighted with their gifts.

I had gotten Carlisle and Esme a painting by a local artist in Port Angeles – I wouldn't have normally picked something like it out, but it matched the color scheme in the living room perfectly, and there wasn't anything on the wall over the couch. Esme had thanked me profusely, and I'm sure if she had been able to, she would have shed some tears over it.

For Emmett, I had picked out more of a gag gift, a red satin smoking jacket. He was delighted with it, and I could just imagine that he would be wearing it around the house constantly in the next couple months.

Edward and I shared an interest in classical music, so I had gotten him a biography of Frederic Chopin that I knew he didn't have.

I got Rosalie a dress that I had found in the local hippie store; it was long and dark purple with an all-over paisley pattern.

For Jasper, I had gone online and found a thick book about the history of Houston that was complete with plenty of period photographs from Jasper's youth.

The Cullens of course spoiled me, even though I had warned all of them not to. Carlisle and Esme gave me a beautiful cream-colored cashmere sweater. Rosalie also went the clothing route for me, giving me a royal blue dress that I'm sure cost a fortune. Edward gave me a boxed set of Glenn Gould playing Bach, and Emmett gave me all of the available seasons of Magnum, P.I., because we had watched the show on television together on many occasions and had a laugh at the cheese factor. From Jasper I got a beautiful sapphire heart pendant on a white gold chain, and even though I griped about it a little bit, I couldn't wipe the grin off of my face – I absolutely loved it.

After we were done opening our gifts, we were just lounging around the family room, talking and laughing together when Edward stiffened.

"What is it?" Carlisle asked him, concerned.

"Alice."

JPOV

This was shaping up to be one of the best Christmases that I'd had in a long time – and I'd had about sixty with the Cullens. I'm pretty sure it had all to do with my Bella. I knew she'd put up a little fuss over the gifts we gave her, but really, did she expect us to not give her anything? It's not like she wasn't going to buy us all presents, and she certainly didn't have the means to do so like we all did.

I had laughed out loud when Emmett opened his new smoking jacket…"Just like Hef!" he had exclaimed excitedly, immediately expressing regret that he couldn't put it on over his Santa suit – which I also didn't know the origin of, but there's always the element of surprise with Emmett.

If I could have cried, I would have when Bella gave me the book about old Houston. My human memories, like most vampires, are fuzzy, but I could still place some of the faces that appeared in the period photographs, and I recognized some of the places. I didn't even know that such a book existed, and I knew that I would treasure this forever.

The necklace I gave Bella looked beautiful against her pale skin, and I knew that sapphires were her birthstone. She gave me a bit of a fuss over it, but I could feel her true feelings of gratitude and awe.

I obviously was too soon in thinking about what a great holiday it was though, because as we were all sitting around the tree together, Edward shot up straight as an arrow, and a sharp feeling of shock ran through him.

"What is it?" Carlisle asked him.

"Alice," he said, shooting a glance my way and still feeling shock and confusion.

"What?" Bella, worried, asked after a minute.

"She's coming to the door now, I've been able to hear her thoughts since she entered the driveway. I hoped I was just imagining things, but…no, it's definitely Alice," Edward choked out. "She's alone."

Bella looked up at me, and I could see the beginnings of tears in the corners of her eyes.

"Shh Darlin', don't cry," I whispered to her. "It doesn't mean anything."

"She wants you back," she whispered back to me. "I just know it."

"We'll see," I said, kissing her on the forehead and stroking her hair. "Don't worry."

I felt motherly affection and I looked up to see that Esme had moved to the other side of Bella, and had placed a comforting hand on her shoulder.

What was Alice doing here? When she left I was sure I'd never see her again, and certainly not so soon. I was finally happy; when she left I thought I was going to lose it and run off, but instead I had met Bella, and in a couple short months, I had managed to regain a part of my humanity that I thought I had lost more than 140 years ago. Well, whatever the hell she wanted, she sure wasn't going to get it from me. She threw me away like yesterday's trash, and I had moved on. I fixed a firm look on my face, pulled my Bella a little closer and braced myself for the onslaught of emotions that was sure to come at me from all sides of the room in just a few short seconds.

When the doorbell rang, Carlisle got up to let Alice in, and for the first time I felt her emotions.

Loneliness.

Regret.

As Alice entered the room, her eyes immediately zeroed in on my new love, and me, but I didn't feel the jealousy or anger that I thought I would, instead she only radiated feelings of acceptance, joy, and…recognition?

**Hmm...wonder what's up with Alice coming home? **

**Reviews are awesome and appreciated :)  
**


	17. Chapter 17

**Once again, I took forever. I think as I get further into the story, I take longer to write chapters because I'm afraid that they'll fall flat if I rush them, and I wouldn't want to do that to you :) Anyway, enjoy.  
**

BPOV

All conversation in the room stopped. Everyone even stopped breathing. You could literally hear a pin drop as Carlisle reentered the room followed by Alice.

Oh, God, she was gorgeous. I suddenly felt extremely inadequate. At that, Jasper must've sensed my feelings because his eyes darted over to me quickly before returning to the newly arrived Alice.

The vampire in question was barely even five feet tall, with short black hair that stuck out in all different directions. Huge gold eyes peered out from a beautiful face, and she looked as if she had just stepped off of a runway in Milan. I thought about how I had purchased my shirt from Target.

My feelings of inadequacy must've morphed into full-blown hysteria, because I suddenly felt a rush of calm. "Thanks," I whispered to him.

"No problem," he whispered back, kissing my temple. "Hello Alice."

"Jasper! And you must be Bella!" Alice smiled warmly at me and Jasper, and her voice sounded like bells.

"What are you doing back?" Rosalie asked icily.

"Shh, Rosie," Emmett whispered.

"No, damn it, I want to know," she said.

"It's just…I really missed all of you," Alice said, looking down. "And I had a vision that Jazz had met Bella and I really wanted to come back and meet her," she added.

"Well, Merry Christmas anyway," Emmett said. "Like my Santa Suit?" I figured Emmett would try to lighten the mood eventually.

"It suits you," Alice giggled. "Esme," she said, as Esme rushed forward and wrapped her in a huge hug. "I missed you too," she laughed.

As Alice sat down next to Edward, I noticed that Rosalie kept on shooting her dirty looks; I guess Jasper hadn't been exaggerating when he said that the two didn't get along.

"Ugh, I can't stay here," Rosalie scoffed, stomping out.

"Oh man," Emmett sighed, following behind.

JPOV

This was just what we all needed. If I had to be honest with myself, I felt nothing but sincerity coming off of Alice, but I couldn't help but feel more than irritated that she upset Bella and Rosalie, and kind of ruined the family's Christmas.

"Can I talk to you for a minute?" I asked her, immediately feeling Bella's panic spike. "Shh, Isabella, I'll be back in a minute, I promise."

We went out around back. "It's good to see you, Jazz," Alice said, smiling at me, stepping towards me.

I took a sharp step back and took a deep breath. "Seriously Alice. What are you doing back?"

"I told you, Jazz, I missed all of you so much that I had to come back to see everyone."

"What happened to all that stuff about finding your true mate and all that?" I asked.

"See…" Alice sighed. "I might have not been completely honest with you, Jazz. I will find my true mate, but not yet. I had unfinished business. And…so did you."

"What exactly do you mean?" I asked.

"Well, if I had to find my true mate…so did you, didn't you?" she looked at me pointedly.

"You…you _saw_ Isabella?"

Alice gave me another huge smile.

"Why didn't you tell me?" I asked. "Why didn't you give me some kind of fair warning? Alice, you broke my heart. I was crushed."

Alice's smile turned wistful. "I couldn't just tell you, Jazz. You would have over thought things and screwed the whole thing up!"

I chuckled. "Yeah. Probably. But still…the whole thing came out of left field. You really hurt me, Alice."

"I know, Jazz, and I'm really so sorry about that, but it had to be done. I mean, your heart's not broken anymore, is it?"

"No," I agreed. "It isn't."

"So it was all worth it, wasn't it?" she asked.

"I guess it was," I said. "Well…um. I guess thanks, then," I said with another chuckle. "I better get back inside, I can feel Bella freaking out."

Alice smiled. "Yeah, you better go back in. I'd like to apologize for shocking her the way I did, too." She nudged me. "She's even prettier than in my visions, you know," she added with a grin.

As we walked inside, I could feel Bella's unease mounting as the minutes passed, so I preceded our entry into the room with a blast of calm. "Damn it, Jasper," she muttered, causing me to smile.

"Why are you freaking out in here, Isabella?" I asked, sitting down next to her and pulling her close.

"I think you know," she replied petulantly.

"But you don't have any reason to worry," I said gently. "Alice left me so I could find you," I whispered in her ear before kissing her on the temple.

Bella's eyebrows shot up comically. "Really?"

Alice shrugged. "I had a vision."

"Jasper told me about the visions, I didn't know that they happened like that," Bella replied.

"Pretty much anything having to do with me, people I'm close to, or things that affect those I care about," Alice said. "I don't get visions about total strangers unless they're somehow connected to me or someone I love."

"Hey, Alice?"

"Yeah?"

"What did your vision look like? About Jasper and me I mean?" she asked shyly.

Alice smiled. "I had a few of them, but my favorite was definitely when Jazz tried your food because Emmett put on a good show of it tasting good."

Bella laughed. "That was very amusing," she agreed.

"That's funny, because I certainly didn't find it amusing at all," I grumbled. The memory of the taste of that food was still haunting me.

***

Although Esme invited her to, Alice didn't want to move back in with the Cullens, not right away anyway. She said she didn't want Bella to feel any more awkward than she probably already did, so she left again with the promise to keep in close touch.

Before she left, I asked her again if she was sure there wasn't any other reason she might have returned.

"I don't think so, but I just have a feeling I ought to stay close. I haven't had any visions yet or anything, so don't ask, but I just wanted to see you all again so that I have more visions pertaining to you. Don't worry Jazz, I'll let you know if anything comes up."  
"Thanks, Alice. And not just for that, but also for reassuring Bella like that. She sometimes gets a little insecure about our relationship, and I really don't want her to have to feel like that any more than she already does." I gave her a hug before she turned to leave.

"Tell her not to worry about your future together," Alice said with a shrug. "After all, I've seen it." She grinned at me before dancing off towards a yellow Porsche that I hadn't seen before.

BPOV

I didn't know how to feel about Alice being back in the picture for the Cullens at first, but after we had talked for a little while, I knew I didn't have anything to worry about from her. She was nothing if not extremely sweet and genuine, and I could see why Jasper had loved her for as long as he did. I had a feeling that we would eventually become great friends.

I was watching television with Jasper in my living room one night when Charlie was working late when he suddenly turned to me. "Bella, I have a question to ask you, but don't worry about answering right away…it's just something important. To me anyway."

"Uh…okay," I said, hoping that he wasn't about to propose or anything.

"Nevermind." He sat back against the back of the couch. "I have no business asking you this anyway."

"Jasper." I looked at him pointedly.

"Well…alright. Would you possibly ever consider….I mean, I know I love you and want to be with you but…would you ever want to be changed?"

I gaped at him. "Like…into a vampire?"

"See, I knew I had no business asking you that," he said with a sigh, and I could just tell that he was going to start drowning in his own self-pity if I didn't say something quick.

"No, Jasper, you never let me finish," I grumbled at him. "I didn't know that was an option." I turned towards him and took his hands in mine. "I think that I would like that eventually. I would want to at least graduate high school first, because I mean…I doubt I'd be able to explain to Charlie why I changed in appearance and all that, but…I would like to be changed to be like you."

"That's the problem," he said quietly. "You wouldn't be able to tell Charlie. You'd have to fake your death."

"Well if that's how it has to be, I guess that's how it has to be," I said after a few seconds. "I would hate for Charlie and Renee to have to grieve for me, but I love you. I think that's why I'd like to graduate first, so I can have a little more time with Charlie. After all, I haven't had very much time with him, so…yeah," I couldn't come up with any more words, so I just finished with a shrug.

JPOV

I couldn't believe that Bella was so willing to become like me. I knew that she was my true mate, but I would have never asked her to give up her mortality and everything that came along with it just to be with me.

I sat around with her for a little while longer until Charlie came home around 11, and then I made a show of leaving at a respectable hour – Charlie and I got along about as well as a father and his teenaged daughter's boyfriend could, and I didn't want to jeopardize that. I needed to hunt and process all of the new thoughts that came along with Bella's wanting to be changed.

As I made my way through the woods in search of something more appetizing than deer, I thought back to my own change. I wouldn't have chosen this life for myself, but even after all that I had been through, I was glad that I had been changed; otherwise I wouldn't have ever met Bella.

No such luck on the better choice of hunting, I eventually settled for the deer that overpopulated the region. I made a mental note to see if Emmett and Edward wanted to take a trip to Goat Rocks to try to get some carnivores.

Life was good, though. I finally found my true love, and I had made peace with my existence. Things would only get better for me.

**Uh oh, Jasper, don't jinx yourself. Reviews are appreciated :)**


	18. Chapter 18

**Here's chapter 18, after three months to the day. I'm so sorry guys. Excuses suck, but I've been really busy with a family issue coupled with a ridiculous case of writer's block. I was afraid I was going to have to abandon the story, I seriously opened the document like a hundred times and I wasn't able to continue it. Until now. I'm almost sure that I know what direction this story is now going in, so there will not be any huge waits in between chapters. I hope I haven't lost all the readers, and I hope you enjoy this update!  
**

BPOV

After Alice's visit, I felt even more comfortable in my relationship with Jasper than before. Somehow the knowledge that she had seen me coming and that we would be together made me feel better about the fact that he had just gotten out of this relationship that had lasted longer than my mother had been alive.

When he asked me if I would ever consider changing into a vampire to be with him, I agreed immediately. I couldn't think of anything that I would want more than to spend forever with him; the knowledge that he felt the same way just cemented that even more.

New Years Eve came and went without much ado.

Jasper and I were arriving at the house after school one afternoon when the phone rang. "Hey Bells," a cheerful voice said on the other end.

After the first of the year, I started receiving more phone calls from Jacob Black, which I thought was a little strange, but since I had barely had much contact with others besides the Cullen family, I was glad to have an outside friend, and someone that I could talk to without four other pairs of ears listening in.

For the most part, Jasper was fine with my spending more time with Jake, though he was more than a little suspicious of his motives, though for a good reason (for him), as he had told me a few days earlier.

"Come on, Jasper. I know you don't feel threatened by Jake calling me, so what's the deal?"

"I don't think 'threatened' is exactly the right word," Jasper said, leaning back on the couch.

"Then what is?" I sat back and pursed my lips at him, waiting for a response.

"Don't give me that face," he said with a chuckle, effortlessly pulling me into his lap and gently pecking me on the lips. "I have a decent reason for feeling…suspicious."

"I'm not interested in Jake," I informed him.

"I know. I'd know if you were, remember?"

"I always forget. It's not every day that you have an emotional barometer with you all the time." I realized that my remark sounded a little snappier than I had intended. "Sorry."

"I don't mind, it's cute when you get snarky." Jasper said. "Anyway. It bothers me that you go to the reservation and I'm unable to come to your rescue, should you need it of course."

"What the hell do you mean?"

"I guess Jacob hasn't mentioned the treaty that the Quileutes have with my family," he replied. "Though I wasn't living with them yet, I want to say it was about 1920, the Cullens were living in Forks. They were out on a hunt and apparently they were on Quileute land. Since they only hunted animals, the Quileute elders agreed to a treaty with them; they'd leave the Cullens alone as long as they never harmed a human in the area and as long as they stayed off of the reservation, thus my being unable to come to your aid when you're there."

"Or what? I thought you guys were pretty much indestructible," I argued.

"Not against the wolves," he said cryptically.

I laughed. "What wolves?"

"The Quileutes are actually werewolves," Jasper told me. "Or shape shifters, actually. Some of them, anyway, not all of them. I suspect your friend Jacob might be one as well."

"That's ridiculous!" I exclaimed. "You can't be for real."

"I am, you could ask Carlisle about it when he comes home from the hospital if you like," Jasper insisted. "Ephraim Black, his great grandfather, was the elder that made the treaty with Carlisle. I wouldn't be surprised if he was. I have a question, have you noticed any changes in his appearance lately?"

"He got a lot taller I guess, but all teenage boys have growth spurts, he's sixteen after all," I told him.

"Listen Bella, I'm not going to tell you what to do, but please be careful when you're with him because I can't come and save you if you're on the rez. Try not to get him angry, and if he starts to shake and lose control of his anger, get the hell away from him fast."

Therefore, Jasper wasn't particularly against the idea of my driving out to La Push after school one day to hang out with Jake, aside from just one stipulation. "Please please take this phone with you," he begged, pressing a sleek silver cell phone into my hand. "I won't be able to come for you due to the treaty, but you can at least call Charlie if something goes wrong." I couldn't really argue with his logic, so I took the phone without protest.

***

As I pulled up to the little red house that Jacob lived in with his father, he burst out through the front door. "Hey Bella! It's been ages!" He engulfed me in a huge hug that rivaled one of Emmett's as soon as I got out of the car.

"It's great to see you, Jake," I said, hugging him back. Maybe I was just used to Jasper, but he was extremely warm. "You feeling okay Jake?" I asked.

"Uh…yeah, why?" he asked.

"It feels like you're running a fever," I replied.

"I always run warmer than most people," he replied quickly, his face expressionless for a moment. "So," he said briskly, changing the subject. "What do you want to do?"

"How about showing me that car you said you were working on?" I suggested.

His face lit up. "Really? It's out back in the garage. It's an '84 Volkswagen Rabbit…it took me forever to find all the parts but now I pretty much have everything I need to get her running," he said excitedly. "Hey, you wanna help me?"

"If you don't mind my not knowing a thing about car repair," I replied.

"That's okay, you can still help. You never know, you might learn something," he said with a wink.

For the rest of the afternoon, I happily sat next to Jake handing him tools. "So what have you been up to lately, anyway?" he asked. "I feel like I haven't seen you in forever. It's been a few months."

"Not much, just hanging out with Jasper a lot," I shrugged.

"Wait, what?" he asked, rolling out from under the car quickly.

"My boyfriend," I replied.

"Jasper who?" he asked suspiciously.

"Jasper Hale, why?"

Jakes eyes widened. "You need to stay away from him, he's dangerous!"

I rolled my eyes. "Not to me he's not. Come on Jake, I don't need you telling me who I can and can't hang out with."

"Seriously, all of the Cullens are bad news. Why are you hanging around that loser?" Jake looked absolutely livid.

In the back of my mind, I knew I ought to not be surprised that he was reacting this way, based on what Jasper had told me, but something in my snapped at him referring to my Jasper as a loser. "Who the hell do you think you are?" I asked incredulously. "You don't even know him, how dare you call him a loser!"

"Listen to me, Bella," he pleaded. "Stay away from them! There's something not right about them. I'm not joking when I say he's dangerous, all of them are! You need to stay as far away from them as possible. I don't care what it takes, but—"

His tirade was interrupted by the phone that Jasper had insisted I take ringing. Knowing it could only be one person, I answered it without looking. "Hello?"

"Bella! Oh thank god, you're all right," the high soprano voice rang in my ears. This was definitely not Jasper.

"Alice?" I asked, surprised to hear from her of all people.

"I had a vision of you driving somewhere, and your future went fuzzy!" she exclaimed. "I've been trying to see you all day and I can't get anything, it's gone! I had to call to make sure you were okay! Where are you?"

"I'm in La Push," I replied.

"You're WHERE?" She yelled. "Bella! How could you be so stupid! To go there alone! Do you know what kind of danger you're in right now? Get the hell out of there! I'm calling Jasper if you don't leave immediately!"

"That won't be necessary," I clipped, "because I'm leaving!"

"YOU'RE NOT GOING ANYWHERE!" Jake roared, and as I looked over at him to tell him just what I thought of that, I noticed him starting to tremble.

"Oh shit. Shit. Jake calm down." I started to slowly back away towards my truck.

"What's going on? Bella!" I was still on the phone with Alice. "Bella listen to me, run. Just fucking run to your car!" she commanded. "Get the hell out of there right now!"

She didn't have to tell me twice, I turned towards my truck and broke out into a sprint, thankful I hadn't locked my doors and that, unbelievably, I hadn't tripped and fell on my face. I turned the ignition and slammed the car into reverse right as Jake burst into a huge russet-colored wolf with a loud crackle. Oh my god, did that just happen? And why didn't this truck go any faster? I was flooring the pedal and only going 55. I looked in the rearview mirror to see the wolf starting after me before, out of the tree line, another huge wolf, this one black in color, emerged in a blur and to collide into it, the two of them tumbling in a flurry of black and brown.

Luckily, Jake didn't live terribly far from the border of the reservation, and I soon reached the sign that welcomed me to Forks, and almost ran right into a very angry-looking blonde vampire. In a flash he was pulling me out of my truck. His eyes were black, and for once, he looked horrifically frightening. "Isabella, are you alright?" he asked anxiously, carefully looking me over.

"I'm fine!" I exclaimed, just happy to see him, throwing my arms around him.

He pulled back and held me at arms length, and examined my face. Already I saw his eyes start to lighten back to their normal golden color, and I knew he was starting to calm down. "Jake turned into a huge fucking wolf, Alice called to warn me…wait…how did you know to come here?" I asked.

"I was hunting in the woods and I felt a shock…I think I felt your fear or something…I think it's because I'm so in tune to your feelings but I just started running towards the boundary line…" He didn't finish because in another flash, I heard a menacing growl and Jasper was crouching defensively in front of me.

"Protecting your snack, leech?" I heard Jake ask nastily.

"I'm protecting her from you, Mutt!" Jasper fired back.

"So you can drain her later," Jake snapped.

"Isabella, darlin', could you please call Animal Control? There seems to be a stray dog here, and it might have rabies," Jasper said calmly, though he was leaning menacingly close to Jacob.

"Fuck you, leech!" Jake yelled, stepping up to Jasper's challenging posture.

"Would someone like to clue me into what the hell just happened?" I asked, trying to pull Jasper back by his stone arm. He, unsurprisingly, didn't budge. "Jasper. Hey Jazz?"

"Get in your truck, Isabella."

"The hell I will," I said. "What the hell was that back there?"

"I told you I thought he would phase soon," Jasper said quickly. "Please get in the truck," he said in a softer tone. "I just want you to be safe."

"She'd be safer with me than with you, you bloodsucking piece of—"

Jasper snarled at Jake, and I just knew his eyes were black again. "Really? What if she had been standing a little closer to you, huh? She would have ended up like your leader's mate. Or worse. What then, Dog?"

"Bella. Bells. You want to come with me?" Jacob turned to me, his eyes pleading. "Please. You're safer with me."

"Really Jacob?" I asked. "Jasper has never hurt me. He never would."

"You know. I can't believe it! You know what he is and you don't even care! This is unbelievable!" His face went from shocked to angry in an instant. "What would Charlie think about this?"

"You wouldn't!" I yelled at him. "You can't anyway, not without exposing yourself as well. What's he gonna say then, Jacob?"

Jake glared at me. "I will protect you from this bloodsucker, Isabella."

"Correction, dog. You will stay away from my mate," Jasper said in a carefully measured tone.

"Your WHAT?" Jake yelled.

"You heard me, dog. Now kindly get on your way so I don't have to smell you anymore. In the car, Isabella."

I knew there was no arguing, so I quickly scrambled into the passenger side of my truck and slammed the door shut. In the rearview mirror I saw Jasper snarl at Jacob once more before he gracefully swung into the drivers seat of my truck, slamming the heavy door.

"This isn't over!" Jake called after us, and a shiver ran down my spine. The look on his face was pure, unadulterated rage, and for the first time ever, I was terrified of him.

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